Anime Epicuriosity

Moving to wordpress.com

2011-01-29T18:13:00.000-08:00

After four years, I've decided to move this blog to a much nicer place: wordpress.com.

Don't worry, I won't remove this blog just yet. I just wanted to let you know that for the next few months, I'm going to move content from this anime blog to the new site on wordpress.

I love the new page design. Come visit it sometime at animepicuriosity.wordpress.com.

Best anime openings for holiday insanity (part four)

2011-01-21T15:10:00.000-08:00

In case you're wondering, I was going to publish the entire anime openings list before the new year. Then my XBOX 360 machine distracted me and I lost my focus.

This time, I'm back for good. I've written everything down before the new year, so let's start with the most disturbing one on the list:

10. Paranoia Agent opening
I'm amazed at how director Satoshi Kon took people through a mind trip with this one. All the people in this video are laughing, even when they're about to die a horrible death.

Paranoia Agent's opening is a remarkable satirical video that symbolizes how the post-modern Japanese workers and children are trying to make the best out of a hopeless environment. It visually represents of a whole range of social problems, all arising from forces that even the protagonists cannot even control.

The opening song, "Dream Island Obsessional Park," is almost as alarming to listen to. The techno drum machine, the barking choir and the synthesizer combine in a disturbing explosion of loud, polyphonic sound. The composition was designed to make people as uncomfortable as possible, to hit them with all these stunning cultural issues.

Honestly, it's almost too difficult to describe this masterpiece with all its computer enhancements and visual tricks. For the record, let's just settle this by posting it at number 10. I'm still waiting for an anime publisher to re-release this series.

9. Eureka Seven - Second opening
Unlike the Paranoia Agent video, this one gels together because it makes people feel good. This isn't any ordinary montage of characters standing in place with a heavy wind blowing across their face. This is a video that easily summarizes the beauty of wonder of this series in one-and-a-half minutes.

Everything in this opening is bursting with color and movement. From the cool surfing robots to the large headshots of the women, everything looks eclectic. The song from Home Made Kazoku is really the foundation of this entire music video. Somehow, these rappers arranged an entire rap that explains the entire philosophy of the ideal shonen anime hero. More importantly, they made this anime incredibly hip.

8. Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, 2nd Gig opening
Ghost in the Shell was one of those unique action shows that somehow mixed together philosophical and political messages, without ever looking boring. The second season, however, really took the show to a whole new level with a political struggle that impacted every viewer who saw it.

The opening sequence is a powerful sequence. The shadowy montage of the main characters sets the mood for anime viewers to enter a tense world of governmental upheavals and mass destruction. Yet, the lineup of the characters against a white background is really what catches everyone's attention. The director was literally asking for us to pay attention to these tough policemen in the video who are taking a stand against political oppression.

7. Revolutionary Girl Utena
After watching all the old shoujo anime openings again, Utena is probably the only one that bowled me over. This is still one of the best displays of hand-drawn animation I've ever seen in an anime show. This one-and-a-half minute clip somehow makes single cels look like Victorian masterpieces in a twisted fantasy tale.

In the opening montage, the still shots of the girls rotate against a background of a rose, as if to show that someone was trying to spin them into a romance that is too good to be true. Then all the characters show off their bravado by making their flashiest-looking sword slash with quick, fluid animation that jumps out of the screen. By the time people reach the upside-down castle and the girls on flying horses, anyone will want to watch the show just to make sense of it all.

This is another one of those shows that still needs a re-release. Shoujo fans still love watching this series, so anime publishers should at least look into re-releasing it someday. Otherwise, the price for the entire series is going to stay at $300 on ebay.com, which isn't very enticing at all.

6. Gundam Wing, first opening
It opens with a simple montage of shots with the protagonist, Heero Yui, with his hand outstretched towards the camera. After a few measures of the thumping dance beat, the camera zooms out to show the massive Gundam robot. Once the opening title appears with the awesome old-fashioned anime cha-ching sound, robot fans know that they're in for a treat.

Sure, the teenage boy pilots look classy and sexy. However, we're really watching this to see those awesome robots blow stuff up. This sequence has tons of marvelous explosions and battle sequences to please the fans of robot fighting. The vocals from Namie Amuro sound amazing as well.

Look forward to the final part of my best anime openings list in a week or so.

Images courtesy of photobucket.com

Reassessing my future goals

2011-01-17T02:42:00.000-08:00

I confess that I haven't kept up with this blog as often as I thought I would this year. After mom and dad bought me an XBOX 360, I stopped watching quite a few anime shows.

It really became a nexus for low budget entertainment. I can literally find anything available on the XBOX 360. The operating system in the machine is truly tailored for the 21st century. More importantly, it allows players to interact with each other online via their microphones.

So I honestly thought that I wouldn't have to worry about anime anymore. I quit my anime streaming subscription on the Anime Network, which was a crappy Internet service to begin with. I bought a gold membership for my XBOX 360 machine.

I still don't feel that full depth from a dramatic anime show in a video game. However, this machine really works like a high-class channel to socialize with all of my friends, no matter where they live in the world.

I felt really depressed last year, because I kept thinking about all the money that I didn't have. Yet, thanks to this device, I really don't feel alone anymore. I feel like I'm actually attached to something important amongst all of my best friends.

I'll start anew with a simple subscription to crunchyroll.com. They seem to offer the best quality service. I could probably find a whole slew of other anime shows to download off of various other sources, but this is a good start.

Let's have a toast for the new year of hope!

Best anime openings for Christmas insanity (part three)

2010-12-06T16:43:00.000-08:00

I had a tough time narrowing down the next 15 entries in my favorite anime openings list. Some of the more obscure shows started to pop up in my head, so I had to reorganize the order.

Don't worry. I'm still keeping numbers 26-16. Now then, lets continue the countdown, starting at...

15. Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad

I just started this series. Beck has one of the catchiest tunes I've ever heard. Once people hear it, they can't stop thinking about it. They'll hum it in their sleep. They'll sing the words.

The video is a fun montage of a road trip across the United States. It looks pretty cute too. When the main characters sing "I was born to hit in America," the cinematography reminds me of "A Hard Day's Night." The camera cycles through head shots of all the characters, as if they were going to be the next big Japanese superstars.

All 26 episodes of the series are available in a box set for only $13. It's a really entertaining series, if rock music is your type of thing.

14. Fullmetal Alchemist, fourth opening

As much as I liked all the Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood intros, the fourth opening of the original series truly captures the dramatic scope of the Elric brothers' journey. I like to call this the epic standing-in-place intro, because most of the characters are just staying in one place, as the camera pans around them.

Yet, the animators make it look incredibly cool. They put in all these warm lighting effects. Sometimes the characters' hair is blowing all over the place, just to make them appear larger than life. The animators also put in all these quick panning effects on the background, to make everything look even more intense. It's a cheesy opening, but all the effects can really hook people in.

With all that said, I'd prefer to watch the remake, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. It's a show that lasts over 50 episodes. It's available for only about $35 per box set on amazon.com.

13. K-On!, second opening

This is probably the flashiest intro, with special effects and computer animation all over the place. During the chorus, the camera literally rotates at 100 miles per hour around the band members.

For whatever reason, the director wanted to capture the hyper-kinetic power of cuteness in K-On with a whole bunch of insane computer animation shots. Honestly, he's overdoing it a little. However, the video is so manic that it lures anime fans right into it.

The American anime publisher for the series hasn't announced any new information, but fans should expect Bandai to release it next year. Hopefully.

12. Spice and Wolf, season one opening

Although many shoujo shows tried to capture people's attention with a wide variety of computer animation tricks, my favorite shoujo opening is from a recent series, called Spice and Wolf. For an animated music video, this is a surprisingly simple montage. It's set to one of the best songs I've ever heard.

Most of the imagery relies on the marvelous landscapes in the series. It includes old European villages and beautiful grassy meadows. If that didn't catch anyone's attention, there's quite a few interesting fan service shots of a naked wolf girl.

The season one box set is still at an expensive $60, but on Black Friday the price fell to $25 on rightstuf.com. I guess the website is keeping the price low for the holidays, because it's still at the same price. For an epic 13 episodes, this is a great bargain. Check it out.

11. Wolf's Rain opening

This intro has an 80s-style smooth jazz tune that sounds pretty stylish with Wolf's Rain. It is still one of the best intros by the anime studio Bones, complete with flocks of black crows and towering skyscrapers.

The background images of overcast skies and heavy rain truly reflect the melancholy, murky tone of this show. Even the wolf characters' have an 80s fashion sense that really fits their tough, loose lifestyle. The main character wears a leather jacket to protect him from the changing weather. The other characters dress in black, as if they are anticipating a funeral at any time.

The Wolf's Rain perfect box set is available on amazon.com for only $33. It's probably the best Bones series that anyone will ever see.

Image courtesy of photobucket.com

Best anime openings for Christmas insanity (part two)

2010-11-28T12:00:00.000-08:00

After the Black Friday madness, it's time to continue with my list of the top 26 opening sequences for anime shows. Moving onward to number 20...

20. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, first season
This opening looks more like one of those 70s romance shows, like "That Girl" or "The Mary Tyler Moore Show." The characters dress up with considerable class. Even the juxtaposition of the drawings make them look like high-end individuals. It's still a classic for me.

No moe show has stirred as much controversy as the second season of Haruhi. This show isn't an ordinary experiment in shoujo anime anymore. It is guaranteed to test your toleration for anime boredom.

Yet, this is also why it's one of the more important shows of the decade. There's no other show that will amuse you and disgust you as much as Haruhi. If you're into camera tricks and classy cinematography, get season one for $35. Season two is also available at a more expensive $49.

19. Super Dimensional Fortress Macross
Not too many of the old mecha show openings lasted the test of time. However, almost every old anime fan remembers this grand opening for "Macross."

This is another one of those really corny intros where the singer has to sing the name of the show. The epic scale of the orchestra and the electric guitars makes the show much larger than life. The hero of the series, Rick Hunter, also looks incredibly cool as the star pilot of the series.

Most of the DVDs are still available on amazon.com. You have to make sure to buy only the grey copies with the words "Super Dimensional Fortress Macross," though. This was one of the shows that was first released with a terrible English dub and none of the original Japanese audio, so make sure you find the proper version.

18. Death Note, second opening
People don't usually hear about death metal bands in Japan, so this was an excellent intro that showed off the random, schizophrenic sound of Japanese metal. It also included some of the edgiest visuals for an anime opening.

It doesn't make much sense, but it truly captures the dangerous atmosphere of "Death Note."

In case anyone is wondering, Funimation recently released the Death Note episodes in two box sets. Each part is available for only $28.

17. Hidamari Sketch x365
I didn't even consider putting "Hidamari Sketch" into the list until I saw the second opening. The show easily trumps Haruhi and "Lucky Star" with a cheery, hyper intro that captures everything that makes it so special.

This intro included everything. The characters show off their name stamped on their faces and arms. We get to see all the characters, from the weird principal to the caterpillar mascot. Panels from the comic are even flashing by at high speeds.

Sure, this intro copies the flying character sequence from Azumanga Daioh. Twice. Yet, no one can argue about how the animators neatly synchronized all the letters, numbers and character motions to match the fast music.

Seasons one and two are available on amazon.com for $36 each.

16. Xam'd - "Shut Up and Explode"
Xam'd is one of those shows that you have to watch, just because it looks cool and surreal. This opening happens to have the hardest-hitting post-punk song I've ever heard in an anime.

There's plenty of things that just look great. The giant Xam'd monsters that are destroying buildings. The unique motions of the characters to the hip music. The person who probably lured people in the most is the girl who looks like a cross between Princess Mononoke and Nausicaa. Come on, you have to watch a show just because this girl's image was inspired by two of the best Hayao Miyazaki films of all time.

Xam'd is available in two box sets. The first box is available for $37.

In another week, we'll look at numbers 15-11 on the list.

Images courtesy of photobucket.com.

DVD Review: Growing up with Friends, Food and Art

2010-11-28T01:06:00.000-08:00

"Hidamari Sketch" is a warm, fuzzy slice-of-life that will get any fan interested in art and friendship.

Don't let the cute intro fool you--"Hidamari Sketch" is one of the best slice-of-life series with moe characters. Although the first season is only 14 episodes long, it sucks you into the everyday life of four of the kindest girls you'll ever want to live with for the rest of your life.

Unlike other moe shows, this series is more like a chronicle of an entire school year from January to December. It takes you right into a special art high school, where the four girls are learning how to perfect their craft. The girls, Yuno, Miyako, Hiro and Sae, have known each other for half a year.

Right from the start, this story strays dramatically from the typical formula of uber-cute moe. Rather than focus on the characters' adorable love for guitars or anime, the characters actually spend time talking together. They talk about a wide range of topics, such as the romance novel that Sae is usually writing.

Each character has unique traits that actually complements their friendships and their art skills. For instance, Miyako overeats and tends to joke around too often. Although she often goofs around by drawing anime-style characters, she has a knack for capturing her best friend's unusual facial expressions in a drawing.

You'll even notice how all the characters' art skills improve. Anime fans will love watching Yuno as she learns to harness her artistic talent to create beautiful, life-like drawings. They'll even enjoy all the subtle moments when Yuno sits in the bathtub, reflecting on everything happened during the day.

Yuno even learns to appreciate all her friends' humorous habits and customs. At one point, she has to borrow Miyako's "horror" alarm clock. The alarm is literally a goofy voice recording of a woman who is screaming at the top of her lungs.

Even though "Hidamari Sketch" isn't the most dramatic or most well-drawn, it has a simple visual touch that looks amazing on screen. Many of the anime textures include actual photographs. For instance, the escalator in a shopping area includes actual photographs which might have been manipulated through 3D animation magic.

Every backdrop is like a work of art. The stairs turn into abstract horizontal lines moving up or down the screen. The textures are sometimes shaded with dot patterns, rather than in different gradients. The anime even includes a photograph of the actual sculpture of Brutus, pasted into the high school classroom setting.

These are just a few of the many reasons why "Hidamari Sketch" is a huge hit in Japan. The show ran for two seasons and it is about to start its third. It's one of the only moe shows where the girls actually act like mature grown-ups. Although "K-On!" is receiving all the buzz this year for its exciting rock music, no one should ever overlook the wonderful "Hidamari Sketch."

Image courtesy of photobucket.com

DVD Review: A Complicated Bundle of Love

2010-11-23T01:35:00.000-08:00

If anyone is struggling to find a decent romance anime, there's one show that they absolutely have to watch.

Season one of "Honey and Clover" is a powerful love story that is guaranteed to keep everyone emotionally attached until the very end.

It starts off as a simple slice-of-life about a group of art college friends: three guys and two girls. The guys consist of a first-year student named Takemoto, a sixth-year slacker named Morita and a fourth-year senior named Mayama. The girls consist of a young prodigy named Hagumi and a beautiful third-year pottery student named Ayumi Yamada.

At first, the story becomes a simple snapshot of daily life for these college students. As they grow older, they become more and more romantically attached. Yet, they all have a tough time confessing their feelings for each other, because they don't want their group of friends to break apart.

Although the plot is as simple as a light romance could get, the dialogue is remarkably rich with pent-up emotion. Viewers will immediately get hooked into heartbreaking relationship between Yamada and Mayama. Yamada can't help falling in love with Mayama, even when he starts to live in the apartment of another close friend named Rika.

The dialogue may seem innocent in the first few episodes. By episode 18, though, Yamada's emotions get the best of her when she runs away in tears. The entire series is filled with many difficult situations of unrequited love. These characters must wallow through these flooding emotions, struggling to find a new meaning to their lives.

To tell the truth, I can't believe this group of buddies could ever manage to stay together for two seasons. Thankfully, they never don't really take these pressing relationships too seriously. The director, Kenichi Kasai, has an incredible knack for making every comedy sequence as epic as possible.

For example, episode eight includes an especially agonizing Twister game. It starts out as an easy game. Near the end, though, all the characters are goofily breaking their bones from playing the game. The animators execute everything in this sequence with quick slapstick timing. They manage to make everything as ridiculously painful as possible, without ever crossing the line of extreme violence.

It's a bizarre series of wacky humor with unbearable waves of moving emotion. "Honey and Clover" is probably one of the best and most realistic anime love stories ever made. The protagonists are charming. The warm visuals are soothing. The dialogue hits people where it hurts.

As painful as it is to watch, this show is more about the characters' journeys rather than their relationships. "Honey and Clover" proves that sometimes it takes a little tough love for people to grow into mature adults.

Watch the series at hulu.com.

Images courtesy of photobucket.com

DVD Review: Saving the world with an iPhone

2010-11-19T23:47:00.000-08:00

"Eden of the East" is a mind-blowing anime about a lone kid who can save an entire nation by making a cell phone call.

Sure, it's not the most realistic series, but it's an impressive show that relies more on smart, subtle dialogue rather than overblown bravado. The story and action is almost entirely based on Internet technology, but the dialogue is incredibly clever.

It starts with a random encounter, where a naked Japanese guy is left stranded in Washington D.C. with only a cell phone and a pistol. After an awkward meeting with the police, the guy somehow convinces a young Japanese girl to give him a coat and a hat.

From this point onward, the guy has to piece together his identity, based on all the little clues he can scrounge up. His cell phone is his only guide, directing him to an abandoned apartment with random travelers' passports, some clothes and plenty of guns. He takes on the name of Akira Takizawa.

In the middle of running away from American police officers, he runs into the Japanese tourist girl, Saki Morimi. She left her passport in his jacket pocket, so she came to ask for it back. He somehow strikes up an extraordinary relationship with the girl as they take a plane trip back to Japan.

The rest of the series is a crafty mystery storyline, where the main character must slowly regain his memory. His special cell phone allows him to get anything he wants from an 10 billion yen account. All he has to do is call the anonymous phone operator named Juiz. Other special cell phone users are also seeking to kill him using the same ambitious powers.

The magic of this show is not based around the action. This series has almost no fights or gun battles. Much of the fascinating intensity comes from the passionate verbal exchanges between fellow nerds and cyber hackers. They use their high-end technology to help this boy discover his identity.

Although this show is the biggest advertisement for people to use iPhone-styled devices, the phones manage to keep the characters more preoccupied with talking to other people. They manage to squeeze in some pretty profound dialogue involving revenge and forgiveness.

By the end of the show, everyone will want to root for this intelligent kid, who can use a simple cell phone to take down weapons of mass destruction. He manages to look incredibly classy, even to the very end.

Images courtesy of photobucket.com

Best Anime Openings for Christmas Insanity (Part one)

2010-11-15T00:03:00.000-08:00

For a Christmas season, anime publishers are sure waging an all-out war for sales. No joke.

Every company, from Funimation to RightStuf, is decking out their line-ups with loads of licensed shows, re-releases and special value deals.

With all that said, which ones are the best? I've decided to cover all the bases in a simpler, more creative way: through anime opening videos.

Why videos? Well, these particular openings easily sum up what the series is. It doesn't force people to go through the stress of watching the entire series just so they know every pro and con of the series. The openings just show the best that the series has to offer. Nothing more.

So here are links to my top 26 anime openings. I'll start with the first six:

26. Rurouni Kenshin

I had to choose 26 openings instead of 25, because I couldn't forget Rurouni Kenshin. My brother and I had a blast watching almost every episode of this show. It was probably the best anime for people who really needed something to feel good about.

And Kenshin was the type of person to make you feel good. He's funny. He's an unstoppable samurai. He's a family man too. He's always there for his girlfriend. Isn't that cute? That's why I had to include Kenshin. There's always a good Kenshin DVD in the bargain bins.

25. Welcome to the NHK
The complete series is available for only $20 now. It's a crazy satire about a social recluse who drops out of college. He hallucinates about talking kitchen appliances. It's really funny.

Now you really have no excuse to miss out on buying this series. Besides, who could ever forget the uber cute "Purupuru-pururin" song?

24. Trigun
Although I still have a grudge against the overly fantastic gun battles near the end of the series, "Trigun" is an incredibly well-animated show. The characters are spunky. The story is intensely dramatic. And it's now available in a $30+ box set.

Believe me, you can never go wrong with a tall guy toting huge semi-automatics on his red trenchcoat.

(Note: It's not available on amazon.com, because of packaging issues. Sorry! Look on other websites, such as rightstuf.com)

23. Soul Eater Opening #2
This is easily the most eclectic show from anime studio Bones. Soul Eater combines Tim Burton visuals with Rurouni Kenshin-style battles for an epic coming-of-age story. Maka is also one of the smartest and toughest female leads to ever grace an anime series.

It's a pricy series of box sets, but it will satisfy anyone who loves long shonen shows. The battles are some of the best you'll ever see in an anime series.

22. Code Geass, Second opening for R2
Sure, the story is a completely profound tale of a teenage boy who is held bent on world domination. That's why you have to get the series. Code Geass is the funniest, and the most exciting, giant robot show ever made.

The entire series still isn't cheap, but it definitely will impress anyone who watches it in its entirety.

21. Lucky Star
There really isn't any slice-of-life anime as cute and realistic as Lucky Star. For a show, it makes for a remarkable snapshot of high school life. This one also isn't cheap, but moe fans will always want to pick this series up. It has the most adorable characters imaginable.

Stay tuned for part two, coming next week.

Images courtesy of photobucket.com

DVD Re-release: Darker than the X-Men, that's for sure

2010-11-12T00:05:00.000-08:00

In May of this year, Funimation re-released the first season of "Darker Than Black" in a box set.

This anime is a creative show that sucks viewers into a dark, noir world of supernatural battles between humans and contractors.

Think of this show as the Japanese version of the "X-Men." The story focuses on the lives of contractors, people who are allowed to use special powers as long as they pay a price. For instance, the main character, Hei, eats tons of food in order to pay for his ability to expel electricity from his body.

These contractors all come from different organizations. The British secret agent service, MI6, has three contractors who battle with Hei from time-to-time. An unknown syndication gives each agency different missions to assassinate people and to kill rival contractors.

Our main hero, Hei, takes on the identity of the Black Reaper. He's satisfied with his life as a contractor. However, he has a secret lover who he struggles to come to terms with. His former girlfriend, Amber, is hatching a destructive plot that could eliminate Japan.

These two lovers were part of some mysterious scientific experiments held by a company known as Pandora. They received their strange new powers through these research operations. However, they eventually get forced to endure the most daunting mission of their entire lives. A mission that literally reaches past the boundaries of heaven and hell.

This series certainly has its share of conspiracy theories. The characters receive very little knowledge about why they have to follow the syndicate's orders. The contractors live dangerous lives, where they must kill others before they get killed themselves.

Yet, the story all comes together in a strangely euphoric whole. To tell the truth, "Darker Than Black" doesn't make too much sense unless you look at the entire series as a whole. The storyline is very similar to the film "The Sky Crawlers." These characters are part of a gigantic life-threatening competition, but they must find a way to cooperate with each other when their lives are on the line.

Is there a way to defy the rules of society? "Darker Than Black" will definitely open your mind up to the possibility of a world where everyone lives in harmony. In the wake of a frightening genocide, it offers the promise of a new beginning. As imperfect as this show is, there is almost nothing cooler than this series.

Well, you could mention "Neon Genesis Evangelion." With all that said, the Evangelion director couldn't possibly come up with a script as poetic as this series. No one could ever replicate the sly, chilling tone of "Darker Than Black."

Images courtesy of photobucket.com

DVD Re-release: Now and Then, Here and There

2010-11-09T21:29:00.000-08:00

"Now and Then, Here and There" grips anime viewers with an illogical, emotional story revolving around adolescent warfare.

For a post-apocalyptic drama, this OVA is a shocker. The series takes young teenagers through a wide variety of heartbreaking situations. In fact, there aren't any other shows that depict children in violent warfare and under sexual subservience. I'm glad that someone decided to re-release this series in a cheap box set in 2009, after all these years.

It opens as an innocent slice-of-life about Shuzo "Shu" Matsutani, a young kendo student. He meets a mysterious blue-haired girl sitting on top of an abandoned refinery building.

After a short conversation, their environment suddenly transforms into an alternate dimension, where the world has turned into a desolate wasteland. Shu is taken into the army of Hellywood, a humongous industrial fortress.

There's nothing inviting about this world at all. Men force children to kill innocent people in indigenous villages. The soldiers must execute anyone who disobeys commands. In short, the new universe is almost as ruthless as the Holocaust camps.

The world's only hope is the blue-haired girl, Lalaru. Her pendant has the power to release floods of water at her command. However, she is tired of being used as a tool to provide water for bloodthirsty emperors. Shu brainstorms a plan to save Lalaru, no matter how difficult the task is.

Technically, this is one of the most illogical anime shows ever made. Think about it.

There's more than a couple situations where someone could have shot the evil dictator of Hellywood, Hamdo. He's terribly vulnerable to gunshots and knives. No one really takes the opportunity because they're supposedly afraid of him.

It makes little to no sense at all. With all that said, this is still an immensely emotional show. As far as I know, there's only one other anime that focuses on sexual slavery and soldier children. That film, "Kite," is still hard to watch because it is filled with so much disturbing sexual imagery.

"Now and Then, Here and There" makes for a welcome alternative. The second half of the series also offers plenty of insight on the ethical problems of warfare. Plenty of characters must make some heart-wrenching decisions about who lives and who dies.

Without giving anything away, the final scenes are shocking and frightening to watch. If the teenage characters weren't compassionate, this series could have easily ended in a bloody apocalypse of chaos. Thankfully, the series carries a final message of hope for peaceful resolutions.

By all means, this isn't the best series ever made. However, it is worth a rental. These children are easy to empathize with, so it's hard to not feel sorry for them as they endure unbearable torture. Just keep in mind that it probably wouldn't make that much sense as a whole.

Images courtesy of photobucket.com

Code Geass season two: The sacrifices for an ideal world

2010-10-23T20:37:00.000-07:00

To tell the honest truth, I didn't expect much from "Code Geass" when I first started. There's no way anyone can ever believe a story about a teenage brat who wanted to destroy the fictional country of Brittannia.

I was dead wrong. Code Geass is a virulent vision of destruction and mayhem, all for a much greater good. As illogical as the show turns out, no one can deny its brilliance.

The second season, R2, begins as an awkward slice-of-life story with the main character, Lelouche Lamperouge. He apparently lost all his memory of everything that happened in season one. He doesn't remember his rebel army, the Black Knights. He doesn't remember C.C. or anything about his Code Geass. And for some reason, he has a little brother following him around, named Rolo.

Although the environment drastically changed, the Black Knights still manage to remind Lelouch of his original mission. With the help of the immortal girl named C.C., Lelouch regains his memory and his ability to use the power of Geass. He has the ability to command people to do whatever he wants, by using the Geass power in his eye.

I had a couple gripes about the story as it meandered through a cast of new characters. For instance, the show almost spent too much time at a boring party with Brittannian nobles and a frightened Chinese princess.

Thankfully, the director has a keen way of keeping people interested, even when the anime plods through dull side stories. By the time people reach episode 14, they'll understand that this piece of animation is a frightening masterpiece.

We weren't meant to really hate Lelouch. No one can deny that he's an egocentric villain, but even when he kills all his best friends, he never does it intentionally. He always tried his best to keep them away from his megalomaniac complex.

I admit that the last few episodes are almost bombastic to the point of disbelief. No one would really wish to reduce the world into an intercontinental war of improbable proportions. Still, this show wasn't meant to turn into a satirical comedy. It was meant to reveal all the hypocritical qualities of the shonen anime in its rawest form. Although it plays out like a big, delusional fantasy devised by some otaku nut, it truly defies the philosophical boundaries of anime.

The intellectual battles in season two take on a much shrewder persona than in the previous season. Lelouch battles against selfish, obstinate dictators who wish to keep the people of the world stuck in the past or the present. For some reason, they all intend to create a worldwide apocalypse as part of their master plan.

Thankfully, Lelouch has better plans. He wants to turn the world into a safe place for everyone to live. He lives up to this promise, even to the very end.

Unfortunately, I can't tell anyone whether he's really honest about his intentions. I will say that this anime will always keep people on their toes. No one could ever anticipate this show's crafty ending. I'm still amazed that the director, Goro Taniguchi, had the brains and the drive to create such a wonderful cast of characters.

It's an understatement to say that this is one of the most important anime shows of our time. "Code Geass" is an epic that we deserve to revile and rejoice in. It's possibly the most volatile thing I've ever seen and it's a fantastic piece of art.

Director Goro Taniguchi will probably never create a better anime than this one, but I don't mind. This show is nearly impossible to top, in its scope of haywire chaos and demolition. If you've got the guts, watch every episode of this anime. You absolutely won't regret any second of it.

You'll probably cringe a lot though. This show has tons of explosions.

Images courtesy of photobucket.com

Anime Slipstream: A magnificent anime blend of epic proportions

2010-10-22T00:39:00.000-07:00

I don't often say this, but "Xam'd: Lost Memories" is possibly the greatest new anime known to man.

"Xam'd" is easily one of the most beautiful robot action shows I've ever seen. Anime fans can easily attribute the show's success to Bones, the anime studio who worked on this series. The director also worked on a well-received series, known as "Eureka Seven". This show turned a love story between two teenagers into a strong message of protecting the environment.

The new show, "Xam'd", is a wonderful marriage between the visuals of "Eureka Seven" and a Hayao Miyazaki film. Both sport an urgent message to protect the environment. Both feature violent robots. Both pieces of animation are truly inspirational.

At first, the series follows the ordinary life of a high school boy named Akiyuki. The show covers his day-to-day routine with his parents, both divorced. After following a hectic schedule, he arrives just in time to meet his friends, Haru and Furuichi. Together, they board a school bus for the class field trip to Sentan Island.

As he is about to board the bus, Akiyuki notices that a shy young girl in rags is in line to get on. He manages to trick a police officer into giving this girl permission to board. Once he leaves the bus, though, his life takes a sudden turn for the worse.

The girl is actually a suicide bomber who detonates herself in the bus. After a devastating explosion, Akiyuki tries to talk to the dying girl, whose belly is bleeding with green liquid. The youngster apologizes before implanting a gem inside his forehead. The gem transforms Akiyuki's entire body into a white robot monster.

The next episode is a sheer masterpiece of otherworldly proportions. Akiyuki's best friend, Haru, desperately tries to help her mutated friend as he defeats another gigantic cyborg creature who dropped down from the sky.

Although Akiyuki is still tormented, he still recognizes Haru as the only friend who remembers him. A mysterious young woman also flies in to calm Akiyuki and to help bring him back to his human form.

Haru collapses out of exhaustion, as the woman takes the boy away. It's such a surreal scene. Yet, the animation is so fluid and smooth that we can't help but believe in it.

This show is a melting pot of the lost emotions and pain that we all hid throughout the Iraq War. Whatever the case, it is one of the most powerful anime series from Japan, because it all feels so real to us.

I admit that the story is a little bare bones. The hectic dialogue often takes a back seat to all the robot fights in the show. However, it looks incredibly beautiful and well animated. "Xam'd" is a conflicting love story. It forces this relationship onto you in the midst of dangerous terrorism and biological weaponjs. In spite of all this destruction, Haru still holds a close relationship with the creature boy, even when he leaves the battlefield.

As noted on the Anime News Network, "Xam'd" originally debuted on the Playstation Network at E3 in 2008. It's received plenty of exposure in Japan. Hopefully some American broadcasters will consider airing this show, because it is amazing to watch.

However, I'm a little hesitant to say that this is one of the best action series ever made. Anime reviewers often commented that the story ends too abruptly with stories that remain unresolve. Still, if you were a big fan of "Eureka Seven," I guarantee that you have to at least watch the first two episodes. "Xam'd" literally grips your interest like a vice.

The show is available to watch on The Anime Network. You can buy this series at amazon.com.

Images courtesy of photobucket.com

Anime Streaming Review - The sexy reincarnation of ancient samurai

2010-10-13T22:37:00.000-07:00

Japan somehow manages to come up with every excuse imaginable to show female fan service in an anime series. This series, on the other hand, makes fan service incredibly entertaining.

The Anime Network deserves kudos, for airing Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Girls, a show which features a wide variety of sexy young girls acting as legendary samurai warriors.

I kid you not. This series includes a female reincarnation of Jubei Yagyu, the famous blind assassin who shows up in numerous samurai films. I have no clue why Jubei appears as a naked girl who floats down from the sky, just to kiss the male protagonist.

However, I can't resist liking this show. It's the only show where we can see Jubei reincarnated as one of the sexiest anime girls of all time. Although there isn't much of a story in this series, it makes up for its flaws with some really spunky character designs. The descendant of the Hattori Hanzo clan shows up as a sassy French maid ninja. The daughter of the Tokugawa shogun is dressed in a modern high school girl's uniform.

This show tends to follow a drab plot which resembles almost every other harem romance/action series. In the beginning, a samurai man named Muneakira Yagyu tries to meet up with his friend from from training, Sen Tokugawa. However, he gets sidetracked by two girl students, who are investigating the Tokugawa castle for various reasons. When the maid ninja Hattori attacks them, Muneakira agrees to help the two girls.

In the middle of an especially difficult fight, a mysterious girl named Jubei Yagyu floats from the sky to kiss Muneakira. She then turns into an ultra-powerful master samurai and almost kills the maid, until Muneakira tries to stop the murder. Jubei then mysteriously turns into an airheaded girl with a power level of only 20.

The first episodes serve up some intriguing questions. Jubei is probably the most unusual character in the group, because she only gains her wanton powers of destruction after her new "boyfriend" kisses her. Yet, her partner's possessive attitute always seems to revert her back into a little girl.

In spite of all the questions I still have about this series, it still follows a cool, modern vibe. Characters use their cell phones as often as they use their special ninja powers. Even the villainous samurai warriors drink fine wine in their fancy crystal glasses.

The art style of this show is also beautifully classy. All the characters and background objects have a thick black border, to make it look more like a mural which was painted on a scroll. Also, black splotches of pain cover up any inappropriate parts of the female body. This gives the artists some more freedom to show more skin for the female characters, in order to make the series more racy.

So Samurai Girls might turn out as a hit for the fall season. I'm not betting the horse on this series, but it holds plenty of promise for a pseudo-period piece. Watch it on The Anime Network.

Abenobashi deserves more critical acclaim

2010-09-30T00:17:00.000-07:00

It's a shame that Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi passed under the radar of so many anime critics, because it is one of the most original shows of all time.

Every part of this show shines with vivacious energy and animation. The entire span of the series is a big mind trip. In the same way that Paranoia Agent plays tricks on you with its scare tactics, Abenobashi fools you into thinking that this series will follow a tragic turn of events.

Yet, it's not a series about the tragic human condition, where all people have to die at some point or another. The show is all about a boy's coming of age. He learns how to turn his best moments into reality.

It certainly takes a while for the main character to fully understand every part of his dream world. However, this show is one of the few pieces of animation that takes you on a joy ride, to try and understand how movies are really supposed to enlighten us.

Somehow, the main characters change their real world into a culmination of shared experiences with faces they love. The Abenobashi characters cannot settle with accepting things as they are--they have to take action in order to turn their best dreams into reality. The final ending is a surprisingly hopeful vision, that we hardly ever see in an anime.

Many other series have tried to follow the Abenobashi formula, but failed. Kyoto Animation tried to pull off a similar storyline in their series, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. This saga, Endless Eight, was a hideous story arc, where the characters kept repeating the exact same events in every episode of the story.

Only Abenobashi truly nailed the endless dream formula. If only other anime shows would follow suit with this show, because it's just that good.

DVD Classic: Never-ending Adventures in J-pop worlds

2010-09-28T23:34:00.000-07:00

"Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi" will astound anime fans with a journey that literally takes two young kids on a never-ending trip through the Japanese pop culture universe.

This series has had an awkward release history in America. Although it first aired in 2003, it took two years until Geneon released this series in the U.S. Even then, I don't think this show received the attention that it truly deserves.

Thankfully, ADV Films re-released this series last year. I had the fortunate thrill of seeing it on The Anime Network's website. To say the least, this is one of the most creative anime shows I've ever seen.

The show begins in the Abenobashi shopping district in Osaka. Two teenagers, Satoshi "Sashi" Imamiya and Arumi Asahina, are spending their last summer playing in the empty streets. Their parents' businesses were forced to close, as part of the redevelopment of the Abenobashi shopping arcade. Unfortunately, Arumi's family is also planning on moving to Hokkaido, as soon as her grandfather closes his shop.

Their summer of fun takes a tragic turn, when Asahina's grandfather almost dies after slipping on his rooftop. Asahina's entire family is planning on moving to Hokkaido as soon as he recovers. This could be the last day that Sashi and Asahina can play together.

On that day, though, the town completely turns upside down. The group of elderly people exercising in the park transforms into mushrooms. The buildings fall apart like cardboard cutouts, revealing a magical role-playing video game world in some European pasture.

Thus, the two children begin their treacherous journey through the magical other-dimensions of Abenobashi.

This series is amazing for its immensely inventive visuals. The show jams in an astonishing load of parodies on video games, robot television shows and martial arts series. Anime fans are bound to laugh at anything and everything.

They'll especially enjoy the insane antics in the third episode, where Asahina loses her panties to a goblin creature. Near the end of the episode, the goblin somehow turns into the mask for some gigantic robot ship with a demon head. And for some reason, that head still has Asahina's panties on it.

"Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi" is literally as unpredictable as episode five in FLCL. It is riotously funny, like a hyper episode of Shin-Chan. Yet, there's also a subversive tone of despair throughout the journey. As much as Sashi enjoys the Abenobashi worlds, the two kids are still trapped inside these wacky J-pop dream worlds with little hope of reaching their home.

I have yet to reach the ending, but this series is truly buried treasure. Unfortunately, I've heard that most of the special DVD features are only in the individual volume boxes from ADV. Regardless of which set you buy, you have to see this series. It's one of the few shows that will make anyone laugh.

Even if the English dubs put in some awkward Western cowboy accent for the main characters, this is series is golden. Check it out at least once, because you won't regret it.

Image courtesy of photobucket.com

Anime streaming review: Fun slapstick routines about slave labor

2010-09-25T22:17:00.000-07:00

"He is My Master" shows off some funny slapstick routines for a fan service anime, as long as you're able to stand the cruel master-and-slave relationships.

This new Gainax show is a heinous slice-of-life comedy that grew on me as I kept watching. It focuses on two middle school girls, Izumi and Mitsuki Sawatari, who run away from their home to find a new place to live.

After numerous homeowners reject them from taking residence, they eventually find a humongous mansion. They take pity on the the 14-year-old owner of the house, Yoshitaka Nakabayashi, whose parents died in a car accident.

They agree to work for him. However, they don't realize that this boy is a cruel master who wants the girls to work as his personal maids. The only remaining women's outfits in the house are racy maid outfits with short skirts, strapless tops and garter belts.

Although the first episodes are incredibly mean comedies with loads of fan service gags, the series packs in plenty of laughs for what it's worth. For starters, the girls own a ravenous pet alligator named Pochi, who always wants to eat Izumi's clothes. Most of the best jokes involve the cute, but ravenous reptile.

As if this wasn't enough, the boy even holds a demented contest with Izumi to be the first to catch Pochi. Don't even ask how this show got to this point. In the last parts of this episode, Izumi breaks all of the master's expensive pots and artifacts by throwing them at Pochi. The master's expression is priceless as he grimaces through this entire scene.

If you're looking for a quick laugh, consider renting "He is My Master" for Netflix. The show will lighten anyone's day with some devious visual jokes involving fan service. And there's even some hints of romance between Izumi and Nakabayashi, in spite of all the chaotic chemistry between the two.

The show is also available on The Anime Network.

Image courtesy of photobucket.com

Get it now, before it's gone

2010-09-12T18:28:00.000-07:00

In case you've noticed, I wrote a post in memory of Satoshi Kon. And just so you know, now is the time to stock up on all of Satoshi Kon's greatest works.

I'm not kidding. The prices of his movies and his anime show, "Paranoia Agent," are skyrocketing. The last time I looked at amazon.com, the lowest price for volume four of "Paranoia Agent" was a whopping $40.

This is because the DVDs of this anime series are extremely rare. And now that the director of the series passed away, this series will become a precious treasure to come by. I already bought the first two DVDs of "Paranoia Agent." I'll probably pick up the last two volumes tomorrow.

So unless some genius plans on re-releasing "Paranoia Agent" anytime soon, you'd better look for "Paranoia Agent" now. And you'd better not even think about getting the two copies that I saw in my local f.y.e. store or I'll rip your guts out.

Well, maybe I won't go that far, but I'm still not going to let you have it.

Image courtesy of photobucket.com

In memory of Satoshi Kon

2010-09-12T18:18:00.000-07:00

In case you haven't heard, Satoshi Kon, the great anime director, died of pancreatic cancer at age 54. He passed away on August 24.

Satoshi Kon will always be revered for creating some of the most unpredictable anime films in history, including "Perfect Blue," "Tokyo Godfathers" and "Paprika." He has an uncanny ability to tell stories through sudden transitions in time and place.

The first Satoshi Kon I saw was "Perfect Blue" in 1998. To tell the truth, I probably shouldn't have seen such a bloody, explicit horror film when I was in middle school. However, "Perfect Blue" was an exquisite thriller about a Japanese pop diva who was being stalked by one of her most sadistic fans. The show took me through the haunting experience of an idol who is willing to take any means necessary to succeed in her career, even if she has to bare it all.

Of course, the anime had plenty of gratuitously violent scenes. The stalker's brutal attack with an ice pick shocked my system with gushing blood and brutality. However, Kon's cinematography was astounding. Even the final fight between the protagonist and the stalker had truly agonizing lighting effects and cinematography, taking me through every second of the frightened woman's struggle for life.

The second Satoshi Kon film was "Milennium Actress." It was an essential masterpiece that, frankly, didn't receive the recognition it deserved from older critics. My parents didn't understand a single bit of it when they first saw it. This piece can tend to be his most misunderstood movie, taking anime viewers through a movie actress's entire career as she searches for her soul mate. The ironic ending was an introspective look at the true nature of romance stories. To say the least, it was a tale that forced us to reflect on all the failures of our own love lives.

By the time Kon released his third and fourth films, "Tokyo Godfathers" and "Paprika," I was under a heavy load of college homework. I didn't have the time to ponder endlessly over the meaning of another Kon film, although I always hungered for more of his works.

When a mysterious Satoshi Kon television series called "Paranoia Agent" aired on Cartoon Network, however, I couldn't resist. "Paranoia Agent" was one of the only Adult Swim series where I wanted to watch every episode. Kon's show just oozed with beautiful scenes that forced me to contemplate the true meaning of animation. The Shonen Bat was a such an elusive character that took on epic proportions in this series as a juvenile terrorist. Sure, the apocalyptic ending was a little far-fetched, but it transformed our vision of horror films and animation with unfathomably cryptic symbolism.

It's hard for me to even imagine a world without Satoshi Kon. He will always live on in my memory as the best post-modern anime director who ever lived.

Image courtesy of photobucket.com

Streaming video review - Avant-garde moe for the artist's soul

2010-09-03T22:44:00.000-07:00

If you like watching four really cute art student girls on abstract art backgrounds, you're in for a treat.

The Anime Network's newest slice-of-life series, "Hidamari Sketch" turns the anime format into modern art by integrating actual photographs and various forms of modern artwork.

At first glance, this series looks like a low-quality rehash of "Honey and Clover," a similar show which centers on the romantic lives of everyday art students. "Hidamari Sketch" takes a much simpler approach by analyzing the visual talent of young female art students in their day-to-day lives.

There is visual beauty in every part of this anime. The director of the show did an extraordinary job, by pasting actual photographs into the environment of "Hidamari Sketch" to portray the actual surface textures of wood and paint. There's even a couple polka dot textures in the pop art style.

The nameplate of the girls' apartment was created by actual painters. The main character uses tourist photographs, pop logos and anime-styled "postcards" in her photo collage. The crowds of people in the summer festival are abstractly represented by simple peg-like sticks.

Although the anime director's "art exhibition" approach tends to get a little redundant, no one can deny that this show looks remarkable. The anime has many wonderful sections where each art girl get to discuss her own approach to her work.

The jokes and the dialogue is geared mostly toward young girls, so hardcore anime nuts might pass on watching "Hidamari Sketch." However, the director of "Sayonara, Zetsubou Sensei" did a incredible job in giving this moe series much more pizazz than I expected. Take the time to at least watch a few episodes, because the visual style of this series is very unique.

DVD Re-release - The worst romance story with a naked girl

2010-09-03T17:06:00.000-07:00

"This Ugly Yet Beautiful World" is one of the most horrible shoujo anime shows ever made, with mediocre dialogue and romantic situations that are bound to make you puke.

It actually starts pretty strong as a romantic comedy, even though there is a lot of fan service. Although this show is not the most perverted romantic comedy I've ever seen, it presents plenty of uncomfortable shots of completely naked girls. In the first half of the anime, you're bound to see at least a girl's breasts at least once in each episode.

At first, the story of the show holds up pretty well, for all that it's worth. The anime's story centers around a lazy high school boy named Takeru Takemoto, who works as a delivery boy for his uncle. One day, he and his friend, Ryou Niyomiya, find a mysterious naked girl in a tree. This girl, named Hikari, looks almost like the dream girl which Ryou drew for Takeru.

When a giant centipede monster attacks Takeru and Hikari with its tentacles, Takeru suddenly transforms into a powerful shonen fighter with big muscles and long hair. After beating up the monster, he swears that he will protect Hikari, no matter what.

This show would have worked well as a shonen battle anime, but that isn't what the remainder of the series is about. For some reason, all of Takeru's friends and family members gather around the alien girl to provide clothes and a room for her. You don't even know how his friends heard about the girl so quickly, or why his friends decided to come together to see the girl. The show eventually turns into a disturbing harem comedy, where even Takeru's sister fights to win back her brother's love.

Around episode three, the show introduces another alien girl, named Akari. She strikes up a close friendship with Takeru's friend, Ryou Ninomiya. Akari's character is much more relatable, because she isn't so obsessed with smothering her new boyfriend with love. However, the series wants us to focus on Hikari, the least interesting of the two characters.

And for some reason, all the characters seem interested in Hikari, who wastes time in every episode by talking about the air, the water and the crickets of the Earth. No joke. In every episode, Takeru's friends and family are always around to gaze at Hikari. They all comment on Hikari's awkward fascination with the world. I mean, you'd think that after episode eight, these kids would have better things to do than to pay attention to the happy-go-lucky alien girl.

Fortunately, there is a serious story, in which ancient insect-like monsters actually attempt to destroy the world. These humongous, violent monsters awaken when they sense elevated levels of ED in teenagers such as Takeru. However, when you consider that ED actually stands for "Extended Definition," you'll find that there really isn't a good reason for anything in this anime. Sure, there are hints in episode nine about the upcoming apocalypse, but nothing is ever explained thoroughly.

Believe it or not, the series actually turns into an apocalyptic thriller at the end of episode 10. The ending also makes for a touching climax to this show. But by then, most people will get tired of all the redundant sitcom jokes. It's hard to forgive a repititious series that can't even manage to teach people to appreciate the boredom of everyday life. Even the conclusion of this series is an underwhelming disappointment.

Unless someone forces you to watch this anime at gunpoint, absolutely stay away from this series. It is possibly one of the worst anime shows ever made. And it is guaranteed to bore you to death, unless you manage to stick with it after the first five hours.

Image courtesy of photobucket.com

Upcoming reviews for September

2010-09-01T21:29:00.000-07:00

I decided to kick off the fall semester by watching some more anime shows. I'm thinking about switching to an ordinary anime live streaming subscription. The streaming sites are cheaper than Netflix and they provide a smorgasbord of shows, new and old.

Look forward to watching reviews of "This Ugly Yet Beautiful World," a series that features more nudity and fan service than any other shows I've seen. I'll probably finish the latest episodes of "High School of the Dead" as well. I need my fix of random zombie violence and fan service.

No movie rentals for a while...again

2010-08-26T14:55:00.000-07:00

Well, I thought I was going to sign up for a movie rental service, until the Rhapsody music service charged me a hidden fee of $144. I really thought I was signed off of the service, but the stupid company reminded me that I wasn't.

I had to call up customer service. For some reason, they kept asking if I wanted to stay signed up. I hope they know how dissatisfied I am with their evil hidden charges.

And hopefully Netflix can think of something cheaper for me to deal with, because I hate these extra payments.

My movie-renting dilemma

2010-08-25T14:17:00.000-07:00

These days I'm fed up with a lot of things that are beyond my control. I haven't found a job with a steady payroll. I still own a lame Wii machine.

I'm most concerned about my movie-watching habits, though. I loved receiving Netflix movies in the mail, because I enjoyed watching subtitled anime shows. I decided to cut spending on my Netflix rentals about two months ago, because I wanted to save money for some of the video games I wanted.

Overall, the video games are great. However, I haven't been cranking out as many video game reviews and features as I would have liked. It's nice to play these games, but games don't include all the deep analytical themes of anime that I love. You know, in video games, you see the images of cyberpunk, but you don't get to see how cyberpunk represents the disconnect of the human body to become something less than human. You don't get to see the literal references to stories such as "Catch-22" or "The Snows of Kilamanjaro."

In short, I miss all the visual representations of themes that are larger than life. So I'm going to try out a two-DVD-a-month routine, to get me back into the DVD reviewing mood. However, I think I might try out some of the rental services that specialize in anime rentals. The two mail services I'm looking at are:

rentanime.com
It looks pretty legit for a website, owned by Anime Nation in Florida. The $20-a-month price is a little hefty, but you can't go wrong with unlimited rentals of three DVDs at once. The website even includes the "Patlabor" movies and the entire "Urusei Yatsura" television series. You can never go wrong with that kind of deal.

animetakeout.com
It's another good stockpiler of anime shows and manga, headquartered in Pasadena, California. However, the monthly price is a whopping $26 for unlimited rentals of two manga/DVDs at one time. Not only that, but the site's database is a little clunky.

Of course, there's always Netflix, which offers the widest range of options. However, it doesn't have the most complete collection of anime anymore. It doesn't update their selections as regularly as the other rental sites, either.

If anyone finds a better rental service, please be sure to leave a recommendation in the comments section. I will gladly consider it.

Images courtesy of Netflix and animenation.com

Anime streaming review: Fighting demons and living dangerously

2010-08-25T00:13:00.000-07:00

Most of the supernatural anime shows focus on the same characters and the same stories of destroying unwanted undead creatures and spirits. A new show on crunchyroll.com throws some clever twists to the tried-and-true formula.

"Occult Academy" is not just an anime comedy that pokes fun at Hollywood horror--it turns into an adrenaline-pumping show about the frightening dangers of paranormal phenomena.

The show opens as a parody of the horror anime, involving a school which specializes in teaching students about occult spirits and unexplainable spectacles such as UFOs. In a freakish scene that could have been taken out of an old horror film, the school superintendent rises from the dead during a school funeral.

Despite the initial shock, the superintendent's daughter, Maya Kumashiro, insists that all these spiritual beings do not exist. Kumashiro is a ghost hunter who has a fascination for occult spirits, even though she was neglected by her father as a child. She is an unusually violent protagonist, on a mission to kill the zombies and ghouls who are haunting the Occult Academy.

The show manages to present a wide range of slapstick comedy. In fact, the first episode is a jovial parody of ghost mystery shows. Kumashiro's friends assemble the classic team of "expert" spiritual mediums, consisting of a fat "dowser" medium with flimsy metal prongs and a janitor who was just invited because he knows how to kick peoples' asses.

Yet, this show is not a comedy at all. It is a dark series where characters almost die, where the deadly secrets of Kumashiro's father come to life. When Kumashiro was a child, her father became obsessed with his occult studies. He became so obsessed that he refused to speak to his family. Episode two reveals that her father was actually researching an artifact with incredible power, known as the key of Nostradamus. The key is the one thing that will save the world from destruction in 2012.

Despite the looming devastation of the future apocalypse, the show manages to pull off a pretty humorous sex comedy routine involving a time traveler named Fumiaki Uchida. He was apparently sent to find the key of Nostradamus. However, he doesn't win any points with Kumashiro when he first appears in front of her, bare naked.

This anime series is an incredible mind trip, involving invisible ghost murderers, doppledangers and the end of the world. It works amazingly well as a blood-curdling thriller and a humorous, romantic school comedy. There's something for everyone in this hair-raising comedy that pokes fun at the flaws of the horror anime and uncovers the most intriguing, hidden secrets of the undead.

Watch the series for free at crunchyroll.com.

Image courtesy of photobucket.com

DVD Classic: Koi Kaze

2010-08-24T12:53:00.000-07:00

"Koi Kaze" is an incestuous romance series viewers will either love or hate, but regardless, the cinematography is incredibly beautiful.

The story follows Koshiro Saeki, a Japanese businessman working for a wedding catering company. Brooding over getting dumped by his girlfriend, he catches the glimpse of a beautiful high school girl. She drops her wallet on the way out of the train, so Saeki returns it.

He hardly expects to run into the schoolgirl on the way from work to an amusement park. With the reserved tickets he receives from his boss, he takes the girl out for a date and falls in love with her. However, he doesn't even expect that she is his little sister, and that she will be living with him at home with his father. Saeki now has to agonize over suppresses his feelings for his sister, Nanoka Koshinata.

Although the manga tends to keep the incestuous drama to a minimum, the anime plays out the drama to a disturbing climax near the end. It's one of the most difficult anime to watch, and opinions of the series will likely remain sharply divided.

However, the real draw of this series is the cinematography. Everything from the gentle cherry blossoms in the opening to the light pastel colors is beautiful. The music also manages to carry the tone of the series incredibly well, transitioning from moody synth crescendos to cute, childish piano passages.

Probably the most appealing character is the businessman's little sister Nanoka Koshinata. Her voice actor, Yuuki Nakamura, plays her with lovely innocence and never overextends the drama. In fact, she plays her so well that viewers will agonize over the illicit relationship at the end.

Image courtesy of stochasticmanga.wordpress.com

DVD Classic: First Fullmetal Value

2010-07-25T20:07:00.000-07:00

I decided to finish watching "Fullmetal Alchemist," because the two season box sets are each available for $30 on amazon.com.

The end of the original "Fullmetal Alchemist" is a thrilling series of episodes packed with high-adrenaline action and engaging discussions about the meaning of alchemy.

There were points in the last five episodes, where I honestly thought the series would never give a proper explanation of the major law of alchemy, equivalent exchange. Fortunately, the show settles with an insight into what really happens when a person performs alchemy to repair something.

Although the series was a whirlwind journey through numerous locales, the series manages to cover plenty of ground. Ed and Al were already an inseparable duo, but the emotional tensions especially rise in the final battles of this television series. The best battles take place when Ed and Al finally face the dreaded homunculus they thought they left behind years ago.

It's hard to close the lid on this series, but "Fullmetal Alchemist" manages to pull off the hefty task of explaining what actually happens in an "equivalent exchange." The characters tend to rush the dialogue in the last few episodes, but the pace actually helps to raise the adrenaline in the battles afterward. The fights make for some intense, but insightful looks into what it really means to be human.

The ending of "Fullmetal Alchemist" features some of the goriest scenes in the series. However, the wonderful conclusion provides the main characters with the possibility to create an ending above and beyond the boundaries of the medium of animation. Although "Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood" may have served as a more truthful retelling of the original manga, this anime serves as a simple, fitting conclusion to this saga about magicians and metamorphosis.

Seasons 1 and 2 are each available for $30 at amazon.com.

Image courtesy of photobucket.com.

Streaming video review: Sexy bishonen saviors of the incoming apocalypse

2010-07-24T15:53:00.000-07:00

Beautiful bishonen action returns to its pre-eminent level of excellence with Kadokawa Pictures' newest action show, "Uragiri wa boku no namae wo shitteiru." This review covers the first four episodes.

Although we've seen the same visual images of sexy guys with big eyes in series such as "Angel Sanctuary" and "Ayashi no Ceres," this is actually one of the best bishonen action series I've seen in a long time. For once in anime history, the pacing of the bishonen (beautiful boys) show isn't sped up to a frightening pace. The Christian symbolism isn't set up in a horrific manner. And the characters develop like a touching romantic couple in a badass, post-apocalyptic world.

The only thing that may bother first-time watchers is the Japanese name, which was shortened to "Uraboku" in the crunchyroll.com library. The English translation of the full name literally means, "Betrayal Know My Name." I really think Crunchyroll could have translated the entire name of the series. They could have drawn in a horde of new fans with a more westernized name.

The first episodes beautifully set the stage for this unusual fantasy action show. The main character, Yuki Giou, is a high school boy with no relatives, who lives in an orphanage. He is a top student in his class, aiming to head to college. However, he keeps receiving strange death threats in the mail.

For quite some time, Yuki's best friend has been plotting to kill him. Yuki nearly gets murdered one day, when his feet freeze up in the middle of an intersection. Fortunately, a handsome, bare-chested stranger in a black trenchcoat saves his life. The man's name is Zess. Oddly enough, Yuki keeps dreaming that he once was the girlfriend of that man long ago.

Then his long-lost relatives visit him at the orphanage. They present him with an invitation to head to Tokyo to use his superpowers to fight dark monsters, known as Duras. At first, Yuki thinks that he would rather live a normal high school life. However, he has a change of heart on one especially fatal night, on the night of the full red moon.

This anime's visuals are incredible. The post-apocalyptic action sequences look top-notch for a bishonen fantasy series. The story of the series involves the frightening apocalypse in the future. So the dark, blackened imagery and the Christian symbolism in the battles look especially poignant in these fight sequences.

Beyond all the doom and gloom though, it's hard not to love the sexy characters of this series, whether you're a girl or a guy. Sure, there's plenty of romantic tension between Yuki and Zess. However, I especially love the beautiful figures of Yuki in the past as a woman. Toko Murasame is even more adorable, whether she's fighting or acting cute for Yuki.

Although some people will obviously object to the potentially homosexual relationship between Yuki and Zess, it's fairly obvious that Yuki was once a woman in an earlier time, long ago. And certainly the series will fill viewers in on how Yuki changed his form years ago. So the series is probably not going to turn out as borderline offensive as it may seem.

Bishonen fans will get more than their fill of boy's love with this awesome action series. With guns, swords, Christian overtones and beautiful characters, this series looks like it has everything that the bishonen fan will ever want and need.

Watch the series for free at crunchyroll.com.

Image courtesy of photobucket.com

Streaming video review: Secret agents plot to kill the alien catgirl

2010-07-22T17:47:00.000-07:00

Fans of harem comedies should check out "Asobi ni Ikuyo: Bombshells from the Sky" a deadly comedy about the female spies who want to kill the catgirl living with a high school boy.

The story in the first episode is a simple set-up for a romantic comedy. A high school boy's uncle holds a party and invites an unusual guest--a catgirl. The uncle tells the boy, Kio, that he should have sex and drink some beer while he is still young. Although Kio resists at first, he unconsciously lets the catgirl pass him a sip of beer.

Kio wakes up with the catgirl, Eris, sleeping in his bed wearing only a button-down shirt and no pants. Apparently his uncle told the girl that she could sleep wherever she wanted. This new development surprises her female neighbor, Maki Itokazu, and his high school teacher, Manami Kinjou.

However, the women aren't ordinary people. They are secret agents, hell-bent on investigating the origins of the alien girl in the hopes of exterminating her. Even Kio's love interest, a high school girl named Manami, is an assassin who is ready to kill people at any time.

Certainly the show follows the typical formula for a harem romance series. A group of girls want to fight against the perverted catgirl, who wants to play with Kio. Although the series follows the formula, it still packs plenty of humorous looks into the life of a spy. The show literally opens an all-out action sequence in the first few minutes, with a secret agent raiding a ship loaded with illegal drugs and weapons.

"Asobi ni Ikuyo" (literally "Let's play" in English) is a completely predictable comedy. However, fans will still want to watch this to see girls acting secretly to try and kill the catgirl with big breasts.

Watch the series at crunchyroll.com.

Streaming video review: The "Durarara!!" Gang Wars

2010-07-21T22:51:00.000-07:00

"Durarara!!" leads anime fans into an entertaining world with one of the deadliest political dramas between high school kids.

You heard me right. High school kids involved in a frightening battle of wits and violence.

The first 12 episodes were a simple introduction to the different gangs of Ikebukuro. The series starts as an unusual story about a Celtic fairy known as a Dullahan. The fairy is searching for her head, which was shipped into Japan in Ikebukuro. Although many of the characters tried to hunt for the head, most attempts have failed.

The head was traded amongst many hands, including a pharmaceutical company. However, the head has now reached the hands of Izaya Orihara, a shrewd entrepreneur. Orihara heard that the only way to awaken the Dullahan's head to its full potential is if he starts a violent battle. His vague plan is to start a big gang war in Ikebukuro between three gang leaders.

However, these gang leaders are not people you'd expect to rule the underground world of Ikebukuro. No, these leaders are simple kids, each of which have different philosophical views of their typical lives.

There are a few spotty moments, especially during episodes 16 and 17. The director has a difficult time explaining the entire origin of the slashers that are appearing in Ikebukuro. Celty and her friends learn that the slasher's code name on the Dollars chat website is Saika. At this point, the show takes a complete turn from a mystery show to a horror series, involving an army of zombie-like people invading Ikebukuro with knives and swords. Fortunately, the zombie invasion ends once the leader awakens to her powers. And yes, the leader is a high school girl.

Certainly the story will not make very much sense at first. When the pieces come together though, you'll find that this is a dark piece that depicts the social war between three gangs. The leaders are caught in a desperate struggle to stop the onslaught of brutal attacks and murders in the city. The war is ironically created by a shrewd trickster, whose intentions don't clear up until the very last episodes.

This is possibly one of the greatest shonen anime shows ever made, for its depiction of how political leaders are nearly unable the power to stop the incoming contagion of violent warfare. The anime studio, Brains Base, deserves high praise for using its incredible animators to create a world that completely redefines how we depict reality with two-dimensional drawings.

This is a must-see series. Even though you'll never know why all these superheros are all living in Ikebukuro, you will have to see this series, because it will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Watch the show for free at crunchyroll.com.

Image courtesy of photobucket.com

Streaming video review: Prepare for the zombie apocalypse

2010-07-21T18:37:00.000-07:00

It starts off as the dumbest excuse to show tons of fan service and violence. However, it is one of the hottest anime series this year.

The "High School of the Dead" show turns horror into a gut-busting comedy, with over-dramatic romance and the most illogical storyline ever written.

The anime starts off a bad day for high school student Takashi Komuro. His childhood friend, Rei Miyamoto, rejected him, so he ditches class. Matters suddenly turn from bad to worse as a zombie invades the school gates to spread the disease to the high school administrators. Takashi Komuro grabs Miyamoto and convinces her and her boyfriend to prepare for the eventual zombie apocalypse.

The simple story is an lame excuse for random violence and female fan service, but the show is very entertaining. You can think of it as a guilty pleasure for fans of survival horror flicks. The series gets even funnier in episode two, when the genius, Saya Takagi, hooks up Kohta Hirano because he looks like a weapons specialist from a horror movie. Sure enough, once Saya finds a nail gun for Kohta, he instantly builds a gun sight for him to hold his refurbished weapon.

"High School of the Dead" takes pride in its goofy panty shots and nonsensical bloodbaths. Since the zombies are practically taking over all of Japan, the students will definitely have plenty more zombies to kill. It's brazenly masochistic, but the entire experience is an excellent fetish for mature anime fans.

Watch the series online at the Anime Network website.

Image courtesy of photobucket.com

DVD Review: Gurren Lagann - Drilling to a new tomorrow

2010-07-14T00:40:00.000-07:00

Part three of "Gurren Lagann" ends with a spectacular battle that trumps all others as the most visually explosive two hours of destruction, sacrifices and joy.

Considering how simple the story has progressed, there isn't too much to explain about this robot show that hasn't been explain in previous posts. After Gurren Lagann literally stopped the moon from colliding into the Earth with a drill, the spaceship is now headed deep into space to defeat the Anti-Spirals. The leader of the Earth-bound Spiral army, Simon, is hell-bent on saving the world from destruction and saving his girlfriend from the opposing army.

Of course, an epic anime battle takes place with people sacrificing their lives. Like "Wolf's Rain" and many other shonen anime shows, this robot series ends with plenty of people dying to help the heroes in their journey. As sad as I was to see these guys out of commission, they didn't go without a good fight.

The storyline for the last two episodes takes a complete twist into the alternate dimension realm. The characters literally get sucked in alternate realities, where they are living completely different lifestyles. When all is said and done though, this is a distraction that is blocking the heroes path of ultimate destiny.

To say the least, the last episode is a surreal, otherworldly battle. The unnamed Anti-Spiral demi-god literally throws the Gurren Lagann through galaxies and supernovas. After a certain point, I thought this cosmic battle of gigantic proportions would never end. Honestly, it was almost too much adrenaline for me to handle.

When all is said and done though, the series is a worthwhile journey. The animation studio, Gainax, managed to cram in a dense amount of abstract visual symbolism. It is a bizarre, symbolic battle against the self-enclosed alternate worlds that we immerse ourselves in. It looks very much like an epic battle against our universe of worlds within the television.

Most importantly, this series is all about the difficulties of adolescence. Simon has to make one especially big sacrifice in the last episode before growing up into an adult. For a series about the excitement of childhood and growing up, "Gurren Lagann" has some of the most touching, tear-jerking moments. As much as I loved the violent orgy of battles, this show is most memorable for its courageous characters, who worked hard to find some inner peace within themselves.

Image courtesy of photobucket.com

Classic video game review - Persona 3

2010-07-11T21:53:00.000-07:00

"Persona 3" introduces gamers to an fascinating fantasy world, where players must undertake an epic journey to save Japan from evil shadow monsters.

The game may be three years old, but "Persona 3" is still one of the most creative RPGs of the 2000s era. It is one of the only games on the Playstation 2 to introduce a miniature life simulation, where your main character must juggle his time between socializing at school and fighting in dungeons.

The story is an immense adventure, set in March 2009 in the fictional Port Island, which is a few miles off of the coast of Japan. Your main character transfers to the school there, Gekkoukan High School. One night, he is forced to defend himself and a dorm roommate from monsters known as shadows. After the roommate gets wounded, he picks up her weapon and shoots it through his head to summon a spirit.

After the deadly night of battling, his dorm roommates inform him that they are part of a special school organization that is protecting the city from the shadows. Their mission is to explore a mysterious tower known as Tartarus. The organization thinks that the shadows are hiding out in the tower, waiting for their chance to invade the city.

The story may sound like a bad set-up for an anime series. The game even features anime-style cutscenes to make you think that this is the lighter version of some of those other post-apocalyptic shows. Yet, the game holds a surprising amount of depth, especially in the second half of the game. Although there are plenty of details left unexplained about how these shadows were created, the game's story holds up as an epic journey against the face of death.

This isn't all that "Persona 3" has to offer. The game includes a miniature simulation game, where the main character has to socialize with other people in order to build his social links. These connections will build up his power to fuse personas, monsters which you can summon to cast spells and perform special attacks. Once you get the hang of it, you'll be spending much of your free time talking with your friends in high school to build up your fusion power.

Yes, it is a silly game mechanic which adds a comedic touch to the entire "save the world" story. However, the system is well worth playing through. Your efforts will especially pay off at the very end, when your social link friends tell you about how you changed their lives.

Oddly enough, the game even has certain parts that turn the RPG into a dating simulation. Your main character can date almost all the most interesting girls at Gekkoukan. Like any dating game, though, you have to make sure that you don't go out with another girl when your relationship gets deep.

This is a complex masterpiece of a video game, with more and more layers of unique gameplay and social interactivity. As chiched as this may sound, this is one of the best games ever made. If you missed it, be sure to at least play through it at least once. It is one of the most satisfying journeys I have ever experienced in a Japanese RPG.

Image courtesy of photobucket.com

Anime Expo cosplay photos

2010-07-07T12:22:00.000-07:00

The biggest highlights of the Anime Expo are the people who cosplay as anime and video game characters. There were many memorable cosplayers posing for photos. Sadly, I missed taking a picture of the four or five people dressed as the Final Fantasy black mages. However, here are some of the other favorites that I'll definitely keep around on my computer.

By the way, I love this Yomiko Readman costume.

Anime Expo - My version of heaven

2010-07-06T23:14:00.000-07:00

The Anime Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center is the place for anime lovers to find every anime-related item they'll ever need.

If anyone has at least enjoyed Pokemon or any anime show at all, then they are bound to love the Anime Expo. The show has all the Japanese animation-related gear that anyone will ever want. If you always wanted a hat, a messenger bag or an import anime soundtrack CD, Anime Expo has it. I bought plenty of hot anime-related gear, such as a "Soul Eater" wallet and T-shirt.

The $35 entrance fee this year was a tad pricey, but it was well worth it. I found great deals on manga and anime DVDs. The best values involved grab bags, where collectors grab manga to throw into a small paper bag for a low price.

Some exhibit hall vendors also sell the rare anime-related products. People will find yaoi (male gay) and yuri (female gay) anime and manga. Cosplayers will find everything from swords to wigs.

Even dating game fans will find booths that sell the infamous dating simulation games in Japan. Although I've usually steered away from these games because of some of their naughty, titillating content, it is a fascinating genre. There's no other game that lets you engage in a deep romantic conversation with an anime character.

If anime fanatics run out of money, then they can spend their time watching the educational panels, or watching anime in the six or seven screening rooms around the convention center. The center even premieres popular anime shows and series. My favorite this year was the screening of the first episodes of Black Lagoon, season three. The show had all the action I ever wanted, with snappy dialogue, gun-toting maids and lots of explosions.

The Anime Expo is also one of the best places for anime geeks to catch up with all the shows they missed in the last five or six years. I caught the first few episodes of "Murder Princess" and "Fate/Stay Night." My favorite new series is "Rental Magica," a fast-paced action series involving teenagers who are saving other people from spiritual evil.

I still haven't seen everything that I could possibly see at this anime convention. I wasn't able to catch workshops or the anime studio panels this year. However, next year I will definitely try to catch more of the events at the Anime Expo.

Five anime bargains

2010-06-25T00:54:00.000-07:00

Anime companies are releasing some really inexpensive box sets this summer. Now is the perfect time to buy all the anime you ever wanted, at dirt cheap prices.

Loads of complete collections are available on amazon.com. These are some of the best deals I've found thus far.

1. Gurren Lagann, complete collection - $44
Keep an eye on this box set when it comes out on July 6. Gurren Lagann rose to the top of people's wish lists with its spectacular battles and comical robots that can transform into super-powerful intergalactic fighters. You have to see it to believe it. This is an incredible value for a single box set, about $20 cheaper than if you bought the release in two boxes.

2. Lucky Star, complete collection - $44
Years ago, Bandai released this cute series in four $20 DVDs. The entire series cost about $80. The new box set of the entire series is a big bargain that will save you $36. Watch out for the box when it comes out on June 28.

3. Eureka Seven, part one - $37, part two - $37
I love this show because it has stylish surfer robots that look even more colorful when they are bleeding in mid-air combat. Each box is usually at a horrible price of $60. Bandai reduced the price of both boxes to about $37, making this box a great buy.

4. Baccano - $34
This is one of my favorites, because each scene in the series is in a different time frame in the story. It's told like a Quentin Tarentino film, minus the references to other famous films. The price for this series gradually escalated during first half of this year. Now the price is in the economical $30-$40 price range. Get it now, while it's cheap.

5. Spice and Wolf, season one - $40
Although some people wouldn't care about a show on capitalism and financial economics, the dialogue is richer than many other shoujo romance shows. This box is an huge deal that is $20 less than the full price. If anyone loves to watch shoujo romance blended with intriguing financial drama, consider buying this series now.

Image courtesy of photobucket.com

Re-release: second wave

2010-06-23T01:28:00.000-07:00

There's a ton of new anime releases that I've put on hold, because I'm playing through "Persona 3: FES." I swear, the "Persona" games are like an anime entity within itself. I'm almost finished with the main journey of "Persona 3." Once I finish, I'll be sure to write a review.

Like I said, 2010 is the year of anime re-releases. Probably the biggest release is the "Lucky Star: Complete Collection." I know that this series has plenty of flaws, but for the record, there were tons of gut-busting jokes that even Haruhi couldn't match up to. Kanata is an excellent character who spreads her cosplay love to everyone around her. She even pulls off parodies of rare anime shows, such as the pseudo-lesbian romance of "Maria Watches Over Us."

I've also cleverly avoided some of the hideous anime in the beginning of the year, such as the "Linebarrels of Iron," "Nabari" and the second part of "Dragonaut." I'm slipping behind the times though. Sometime I should get to watching these shows, just for kicks.

The first priority, however, is finishing my review of "Gurren Lagann," part three. The series just keeps getting better. I'll be sad when it's finally over.

Image courtesy of photobucket.com. Anime Epicuriosity reminds readers that the pictures is from a fictional game with weapons called Evokers. So do not shoot yourself in the head. It's not cool, yo.

DVD Review: "Soul Eater" ends on positive note

2010-06-06T12:12:00.000-07:00

The final part of "Soul Eater" rehashes the anime theme of courage repetitiously, but the fights are unusually fun to watch.

While this finale tends to follow the conventional formula for a successful action series to the very end, the images and voice acting performances are more surprising than you'd expect. Sure, the protagonists mature like ordinary teenage superheroes. However, the last fights are worth watching for the visual symbolism.

If anyone hadn't seen the previous box set, the good guys' organization, the Death Weapon Meisters Academy, has been looking for the all-powerful device known as The Brew. The members are also trying to defeat Arachnophobia and kill off the elusive villain, Medusa. Most of all, they want to vanquish Asura, the demon god who wants to consume the world with his madness.

Admittedly, this is almost too much ground to cover in one box set. And by the final three episodes, it looks like the animators ran out of time to develop an epic ending to close out the series. Our main hero, Maka Albarn, literally fights the final battle in the simplest manner possible.

Considering that Maka is the ultimate witch hunter, you'd expect that she would use her super-powerful slash technique with her scythe. But without giving anything away, let's say that the final battle turned out even more silly than I expected.

While some people may find themselves disappointed that ending isn't as thrilling as "Gurren Lagann," I'm sure that enough fans will enjoy the final battles. The battle with Medusa was quite possibly the one of the best fights I've ever seen in a shonen series. Crona and Marie finally get the chance to give Medusa the punishment that she deserves.

Best of all, the story reached a satisfying ending that was better than many other shows can own up to.

Let's not forget that Maka takes center stage throughout most of the series. She manages to take many challenging roles throughout the story. She protects her friends like a caring mother. She carefully discerns whether villains are trying to deceive her. She lives up to the legacy of her mother as a witch hunter.

Most of all, she acknowledges even though she is afraid much of the time, she takes matters head-on, no matter how many times her friends are dying. "Soul Eater" is literally one of the most empowering series, with intentions that stay clear throughout its run.

Even if it is completely predictable as a shonen (guy's) action series, "Soul Eater" is an effective series with some of the best acrobatic fights. The battles symbolize the self-conscious anxiety within everyone, which people can overcome with courage. While the show feels like it was geared more for kids, it still packs quite a punch. Literally.

Image courtesy of photobucket.com

DVD Review: New villains and twists in "Soul Eater"

2010-06-05T11:15:00.000-07:00

The third box set of "Soul Eater" brings in some more villains to twist the story into a visually exciting thriller.

This series has a bad habit of rehashing much of the same shonen formulas, by adding in more opponents. From the start, the new goth-dressing woman and her band of misfits seem to have nothing to do with the ultra-powerful demon god which was introduced in the previous story arc.

So the series struggles to tie the connection to these new villains, led by a woman in a black dress named Arachnophobia. However, the series has always maintained an spectacular collection of powerful fight sequences. Everything is packed in Episodes 27 to 39. There's a brawler who fights with chainsaws on his limbs and a midget who can transform into a rolling gorilla.

Among other things, Death the Kid takes center stage in an incredible battle on a flying train. That's right: he fights in an epic battle on a train which almost resembles the one in the old classic, "Galaxy Express 999." This sequence is one of the best in the entire series.

Although the plot seems to make almost no sense as it plods along, there are plenty of clear stories to tell. Arachnophobia is seeking to spread madness throughout the world so that everyone will be her slave. Crona, the purple-haired boy who once tried to kill Maka and Soul, is now their friend and classmate. However, the boy's mother, Medusa, uses him for other fiendish purposes in this show.

I still have issues with how the story is structured. The focus on "Soul Eater" tends to zero in more on the battles than on the actual story, which wasn't that interesting to begin with. Thankfully, "Soul Eater" characterizes its run with some of the most impressive battles to ever grace a shonen series. And if anyone needs their fix of wanton violence and humongous fights, this show packs it all.

Image courtesy of photobucket.com

Video game anime classics: "Ranma 1/2: Hard Battle"

2010-06-05T10:25:00.000-07:00

"Ranma 1/2: Hard Battle" is one of the weirdest anime-to-video game releases, nearly forgotten because of its poor production.

For anyone who doesn't know "Ranma 1/2," this series was pretty much about a boy who turns into a girl when he gets hit by cold water. She can only turn into a guy if he comes in contact with hot water. The rest of the story focused mostly on his love triangles with the other girls, and even guys, of his high school.

Technically, the plot of this fighting game doesn't make too much sense, but it works to bring all these characters together to fight. The principal of Ranma's high school is setting up a tournament. He's promised each participant the prize that that person wants the most.

Each person has a reason to fight. Ranma wants to be excused from attending high school classes. Akane wants boys to stop following her. Shampoo wants to prove to Ranma that she's strong enough for him. There's even a few minor characters in the video game as well, such as the Gambling King, who uses a cane and stacks of cards to fight. His dream is to start up a casino in Nerima with the principal's help. You'll pretty much figure out the story in a short time.

On paper, it seems like a fun and goofy concept for a fighting game. However, "Ranma 1/2: Hard Battle" plays as slowly as the old "Clay Fighter" games. The characters move as slow as slugs and the special moves are almost too easy to use. The game quickly becomes a boring rock, paper, scissors game, where each player takes the time to see what the other player does, so that she/he can counter it.

So why should anyone buy this game? Well, this game is actually more memorable for its stupefyingly voice actors. The United States publisher, DTMC, decided to use American voice actors. The voices sound funny and horribly overdone at the same time. It's pretty much worth playing just to hear a girl mumbling loudly, "HYUUYOUSOUKENHA!" Half the time, you couldn't even hear what the other character was saying. It was like an unintentional parody of "Street Fighter II," where the voice actors were making fun of every bad special move cliche.

Better yet, these fighters were duking it out in some of the most bizarre backdrops that you will probably never see in any other fighting game. There's nothing more fun than fighting on Ukyo Kuonji's stage, which is literally a wrestling ring smothered with a Japanese okonomiyaki pancake.

The funniest gameplay visuals involved the characters' actual moves. You'd have typical "Street Fighter" style characters, such as Ranma, Akane and Shampoo. Then you'd have the bizarre characters, such as Genma in his panda form. You could play as Mousse, who uses swords, a ball-and-chain, a swan and a yo-yo. The weirdest one, though, was Hikaru Gosunkugi. He wears a headband with candles on his ears. He can hit people with a big hammer and he can twirl around a straw man for his special move.

You'll probably never laugh at a fighting game as much as you will laugh at "Ranma 1/2: Hard Battle" for the Super Nintendo. This game is a little hard to come by nowadays, but there are still plenty of copies available on eBay for as low as $6. So if you still have your Super Nintendo, you could at least enjoy this game for some quick laughs.

Images courtesy of expixeblogdepedja.com and vgmuseum.com

Anime is coming back

2010-05-27T22:03:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone. For about two weeks, I was contemplating what I should do next in my life. I was writing for the Laguna Beach Coastline Pilot for about four months as an intern, but was released earlier than expected. The paper didn't have enough money to compensate me for my stories.

To anyone who is eagerly anticipating more anime news, bear with me. I had to take a short break to reassess my goals. It tends to get lonely, now that I'm away from college, from most of my anime-watching friends. I'd like to use my writing skills as part of a career. So far, I haven't earned all the money I would need to pay off my debt to my mom and dad.

So after spending a couple weeks reassessing my goals, I decided to write what I like. And so I'm returning to my second passion: writing anime reviews. Keep in mind, however, that this blog might head into uncharted territory, with reviews of anime-related video games.

By anime-related, I'm talking about the countless number of games with characters drawn in a Japanese anime style. These games will be on consoles such as the Playstation 2, the Nintendo Wii and the Nintendo DS. I had to limit my choices somewhat, because I don't feel like buying any new consoles yet.

I'm kind of stretching this blog into this genre, because I'm spending more time playing these games for the colorful character designs. The games can have a wide range of monsters and creatures. They can look almost as cute as the Mokona bunnies from various anime and manga by CLAMP. And ever since the Japanese role-playing game, Chrono Trigger, these anime character are spreading into JRPGs like a warm, fuzzy virus.

So don't be surprised if I switch from talking about "Soul Eater" to discussing the implausible plot of the anime-style game, "Sin and Punishment: Star Successor." It's only a matter of time before anime and anime video games eventually take over the world. It's like those Michael Jackson lyrics to "We are the World." Anime will make the world a better place for you and for me.

At least in this blog, it will.

Image courtesy of miraigamer.net

DVD Review - Nana meets punk rock

2010-05-16T00:52:00.000-07:00

The "Nana" anime charges up this coming-of-age manga with loud punk rock, and emotionally moving dialogue that everyone will fall in love with. This review covers the first box set of the series.

Ai Yazawa drew the manga which the anime is based on. Like her previous series, "Nana" features plenty of mature sexual situations and dramatic dialogue about lost love. However, the anime escalates the power of this manga with an edgy punk rock atmosphere.

The story involves two characters, who happened to meet each other on a train to Tokyo. Their first names are Nana. Though they are completely different types of people, they get along instantly. Although they separate, they meet once again by sheer happenstance when they are looking for an apartment to live in.

Sure, it's just a coincidental meeting, but the price is reasonable if they share the apartment. So by complete luck, the two Nanas become roommates and best friends.

Although this is a fictional anime about two strangers becoming close friends, the story involves more than just two girls. They each have bad luck in finding boyfriends who stay committed. Nana Komatsu is a polite-mannered girl whose boyfriend doesn't have enough time to see her very often. Nana Osaki is an orphan whose boyfriend left her to make a name for himself as a rock star in Tokyo.

The series is a masterpiece in its message of feminism and independence. Although there's plenty of emotional and sexual romance in the beginning, it's clear from the beginning that both Nanas really want more out of their love life. Economic freedom. Independence from the typical family lifestyle.

The series actually draws plenty of comparisons to "Kiki's Delivery Service," an anime by Hayao Miyazaki where a girl must face the nitty gritty difficulties of life, such as saving money to buy groceries instead of fancy clothes. The only big difference is that both of the Nanas' coming of age involves a punk rock band.

However, "Nana" is even more based on slice-of-life experiences in Japan. In this anime, the city of Tokyo is alive with sexy rock stars and cross-dressing fashion styles. At the same time, there's trendy, cute girl-like decorations for the trendy Nana Komatsu. And there's also a slew of economic pressures involving Komatsu's shopping sprees.

Certainly "Nana" will probably be the most eclectic of all the anime series this year. However, it conveys a universal theme involving characters who are missing the love they had as a child, as well as characters who push forward to find that love.

My only grudge with this box set is that it doesn't hit its big emotional peak yet. Most of the intense angst and frustration was purposefully left until box set two. However, this first box will definitely satisfy fans of the manga, as well as anyone else who loves punk rock, sex comedies and intense drama. In other words, there's something for everyone. This is a must-have for everyone to watch.

Cool features:

Interview with Nana director Morio Asaka
Clean opening and closing sequences.

Minor setbacks to the series:

The English dub is great, but the voice actor for Nana Osaki doesn't sound nearly as cool and mature as she should be. Then again, I have my biases. Call me un-American, but our United States female rockers don't act as mature as Japanese female rockers. If you think I'm wrong, just listen to this clip by Jinn and see for yourself.
There is a point in the anime where the director decided to rehash some of the events in episode one. Although he touches it up with new revelatory scenes, it could have been touched up somewhat.
The last episode in this box is one of the dreaded recap episodes, where the characters review everything that happened in the previous episodes. Feel free to skip it if you wish.

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DVD Review - The Gothic battle marathon

2010-05-03T18:51:00.000-07:00

"Soul Eater" hits its stride in the second box set with a series of epic shonen fights in its big homage to a classic anime show.

For episodes 14-26, "Soul Eater" begins with plenty of excellent jokes, including one of the epic comedy episodes involving the animal character known as Excalibur. However, the true spotlight of this second set is one of the best story arcs of the series.

Our heroes race down a tunnel to keep a group of witches from awakening an evil kishin, also known as a demon god. This will no doubt remind anime fans of the Shishio Makoto battles in the show "Rurouni Kenshin." This was the famous story arc where Kenshin had to race down long corridors, fighting countless numbers of samurai until he fought the final battle against Shishio.

The set-up for the "Soul Eater" battle marathon is simple enough. Medusa and her evil cronies unleash a full-scale attack against the students and instructors in Death City. One of Medusa's assistants, Free, traps Lord Death and most of the students in a magical prison known as an independent cube. Fortunately, all the main heroes in the series escape.

Instructor Stein informs Maka, Soul, Black Star, Tsubaki, Death the Kid, Patti and Liz about Medusa's plot. Although there's plenty of backstory, all you need to know is that Medusa's assistants want to wake up a demon god by injecting his mummified body with black blood.

The anime doesn't really explain much about the difference between black blood and red blood, but that's not important. What is important is that a demon god is really, really powerful and destructive. And the students have to stop him from awakening.

This section of the show contains a very prominent fight between Maka and her deadliest rival, Crona. As people may remember in the previous box set, Crona almost killed Maka's weapon, Soul. Fortunately, Maka's learned a few things about her soul resonance power. I promise not to give away the ending, but I will say that it doesn't end with Maka killing Crona.

Instead, Maka reaches Crona's inner consciousness in an unusual series of scenes that take place in the soul resonance world inside Maka's weapon. Although a devil-looking character is trying to convince Soul to use the madness of the black blood to defeat Crona, Soul doesn't want Maka to lose her mind in the process. In a touching scene, Maka dances with Soul and asks him to use the black blood.

The fight is a brave and daring display of animation, where Maka reaches Crona's tormented soul at the end. Certainly "Soul Eater" isn't a series based on real-world situations. However, the show takes a breathtaking look at how the inner psyche can negotiate with itself to change a person's way of thinking. Although "Neon Genesis Evangelion" executed this with more visual flair, "Soul Eater" shows off its own unique blend of breathtaking backdrops and bright, vibrant colors.

Although "Soul Eater" is still plodding onward with its conventional, convoluted storyline, this is the box set that is worth at least a rental. The episodes in the next box set then slips into a series of boring shonen battles. There's still plenty of action in a big battle sequence in the arctic. However, you might want to think twice before you buy the third box set, because all these battles wore me out after two hours.

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DVD Review - Class tensions and gender bending drama

2010-04-17T23:44:00.000-07:00

The third season of "Maria Watches Over Us" strengthens the girls' romantic ties with warm dialogue and imagery.

The newest release for the Maria series is set in Lillian Girls Academy during the summer break after season two. As viewers may remember from the previous seasons, the student council is organized under a nobility system, in which each grande seour (big sister) appoints a first-year student as her petite seour, or little sister. It resembles an intern system in some ways, in which the upperclassmen assign certain tasks to their apprentices.

In this year, petite seour Yumi Fukuzawa spends her summer break with her grande seour, Sachiko Ogasawara. Although the vacation starts off as a boring moment of solitude, Sachiko has her own reasons for hiding out in a summer cottage. Rival families are looking forward to laying shame on the Ogasawara family name.

There's plenty of other interesting events, including a joint festival with the all boys high school next-door to the Lillian Girls Academy. The boys high school council features a completely improbable cast of characters, including two twins, a buff guy who works out, a geek, Yumi's little brother and a guy who wanted to grow up as a girl.

Yet, as fantastic as the third season turns out, the story still retains a warm, pleasant tone. Better yet, most of the story is now centered on the two main characters, Yumi and Sachiko. This new narrative focuses our attention on the two women whom anime fans fell in love with first. The ultimate affirmation of their love for each other takes place during an entertaining school festival story, complete with cosplaying guys and panda costumes.

The new OVA format, or original video animation, makes each episode more poignant than those in the previous two seasons. The one-hour episodes also make for richer stories, strung together in a continuous narrative without interruptions. The story tends to ramble during the long sports festival and the school trip. These last two episodes feature more still images than actual animation, but the show still maintains its steady momentum of conversational comedy.

Overall, "Maria Watches Over Us" will immerse you into a warm world of girls' romance, with beautiful character designs and charming stories. The episodes shows these touching relationships without any plot holes or cheaply drawn animation. Although the story tends to drift off in the last episodes of season three, yuri fans will definitely enjoy "Maria Watches Over Us."

Extras: The OVA continues the excellent "Maria Watches Over Us" comedy segments, "Don't Tell Maria," a series of out-takes for every episode. These short blurbs include some epic parodies of the opening narrative, including an epic one involving the all boys school. However, the best jokes involve the exaggerated height of Yumi's newest friend.

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DVD rerelease - His or Her Circumstances

2010-04-13T11:33:00.000-07:00

"His & Her Circumstances" eases anime watchers with touching teenager romance, even if the animation quality declines at the end.

Rightstuf secretly rereleased the box set in September of last year. This series has suffered from mixed reviews throughout its run. Director Hideaki Anno, known as the director of "Neon Genesis Evangelion," helmed the production of this series. However, the series literally degenerated as the director fought with Masami Tsuda, the original manga artist of this series.

For anyone unfamiliar with the manga, "Kare Kano" is about a girl named Yukino Miyazawa. She is a talented, beautiful overachiever who strives for perfection. She's frustrated with having to compete with Soichiro Arima, a boy who is also one of the top students.

Unlike Arima, Miyazawa is a spoiled slob at home who studies endlessly to maintain her grades. Arima discovers her alter-ego when he arrives at Miyazawa's house to return a Brahms CD he borrowed from her. At first, he threatens to reveal her secret facade by forcing her to do his work for the student council for a few days. However, their feelings gradually deepen for each other. After a small argument, they begin to care for each other.

"His or Her Circumstances" takes a closer look at the complications of high school romance. It also looks into the deeper problems of Arima's own family conflicts. His own parents were blackmailers, who deserted him because of a huge debt they couldn't pay off. Although this series tends to ramble during some episodes, it never loses its charm until the director of the series quit working on the series.

Certainly this series has its flaws. The ending sequence is a boring motion sequences with a live camera in a Japanese high school. Parts of the series were taken out of the DVD because of arguments between animation studio Gainax and the manga artist. The last story arc of the series remains unfinished.

Yet the series never loses the charm it retains in the opening sequence. "His & Her Circumstances" easily has the best opening animation of a shoujo series ever. The theme song, "Tenshi no Yubikiri" (translated as "The Angel's promise"), is a lovely ballad as charming as an American Motown song. Viewers will be even more impressed by Anno's ability to mix the psychological elements of "Evangelion" seamlessly into a romantic atmosphere.

Overall, "His & Her Circumstances" is a must-buy. The warm relationship of Miyazawa and Arima is worth every penny, no matter how you may argue about the unfinished ending. Everything, from the beautiful character designs to the touching anime shading, is too wonderful to pass up.

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Long time no blog

2010-04-07T18:41:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, I haven't blogged in a while. I had to take some time out to play through the third Phoenix Wright game, "Trials and Tribulations."

I love the series. Although the intensity of Wright's "Objection!" wore off on me near the end, the story remained solid throughout all three games. I'm glad that I finally saved the Fey family using my mad attorney skills.

Anyhow, I should finish "Maria Watches Over Us" season three soon. This box set is actually one of the best of the bunch, with some outrageous moments involving oddball characters and cosplayers. So look forward to seeing a review in the next few weeks.

I'm also trying to catch up with all my Crunchyroll series. Maybe if I have time, I'll review more "Durarara!!" or "Hanamaru Kindergarten."

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Crunchyroll review - Courageous soldier girls fight for peace

2010-03-29T01:51:00.000-07:00

The girls of "Soranowoto" valiantly work for the common good in a post-apocalyptic world of warfare.

At first glance, there are numerous reasons why this series shouldn't work. The cute girls seem out of place in this period piece. The intense violence is shocking. The ending theme song counteracts with the serious tone of the show.

And yet, "Soranowoto" succeeds on so many levels, as a cheerful ode to the courageous work of soldiers. Although these military dogs appear too cute for their own good, the anime ends on an optimistic note of peace and understanding. In fact, the show was one of the best for this season.

The main narrative centers on a girl named Kanata Sorami, a rural villager whose parents died during the war in Helvetia. When she sees a female soldier play "Amazing Grace" on a bugle, she becomes inspired to join the military.

Yes, Kanata becomes a soldier because she wants to play the bugle. It sounds like the most ridiculous reason to join the armed forces. However, the single event helped her grow up to become a strong, vivacious teenager.

And even though Kanata initially loses track of the destination of her post, she discovers that her work is much more enjoyable than anyone would expect. She doesn't just learn to play the trumpet. She befriends a wonderful group of four soldier girls, whose mission is to help the villagers in the town of Seize.

Even though the character designs of "Soranowoto" look like they were taken straight from the other cute series, "K-On!", the story is rich with a unique blend of Mayan culture, Japanese food and European landscapes. This is an extremely idealized view of life as a soldier. Yet, this series was meant to focus on the few pleasures of life in spite of all the negativity and chaos surrounding them.

The violence sometimes reaches a horrific level, considering how adorable all the girls are. Bullets and mortar wounds literally can rip their bodies apart. The violence literally can tug at people's heartstrings with shocking images. The characters are constantly forced to courageously stand up against all odds, rather than fall victim to their traumatic anguish.

Unfortunately, the tone of the series fluctuates greatly through the 12 episodes. The ending sequence in every episode features opposing images of girls laughing and playing to some cheesy J-pop tune. The animation looked almost hypocritical, considering how frightening the last two episodes turned out.

Other parts are left unexplained. For instance, Kanata finds a mysterious underwater fossil of an angel creature in the first episode. Believe it or not, this fossil is somehow connected to the events which led to a post-apocalyptic universe. Knowing that it was an angel, the director might have wanted to make some sort of connection to the dystopian angel apocalypse in the film "End of Evangelion." We will never know about this angel.

However, we don't need to know all the symbolism and history of the angel fossil to enjoy this series. Every part of the series fits together nicely in its short 12-episode run. "Soranowoto" is about all the joys of working for the good of humanity, to understand everyone as friends and not enemies. Even though the series ends with a somewhat unbelievable scenario, it presents a hopeful dream of peace for everyone.

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DVD Review - Soul power!

2010-03-20T22:25:00.000-07:00

"Soul Eater" defies all expectations as a parody anime which turns into an incredible epic action series.

From the first three episodes, you'd hardly expect this show to garner any potential. The first episode focuses on a girl named Maka and a boy named Soul. The boy can turn into a weapon, which Maka wields to defeat evil people. Once Soul eats 99 evil souls and a witch's soul, he can turn into the ultra-powerful death-scythe.

The whole story is a spoof on the typical "gotta catch 'em all" formula in series such as "Pokemon" and "Cardcaptor Sakura." The two literally spend the whole episode trying to capture the soul of the voluptuous witch, because Soul faints every time she gets near him.

The second episode is an even loonier parody of Naruto, introducing us to Black Star. He's a spiky-haired ninja who hardly collects any souls. If he ever quits bragging openly to his opponents, one day he'll turn his female partner, Tsubaki, into a more powerful weapon. Someday, anyway.

The third episode focuses on Death the kid, a shinigami, or god of death. He wields a pair of girls, Liz and Patty, as twin demon guns. However, Death the kid suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder. He literally runs away from battle to make sure his room is completely symmetrical on both sides.

Based on these three "prologue" episodes, you'd think this series would turn out as a quirky comedy anime that only lasts about 12 episodes. Believe it or not, "Soul Eater" completely defies definition. Around episode seven and eight, two of the protagonists almost lost their lives in a fatal battle with a witch.

The two heroes, Maka and Soul, fight against the villainous warrior teenager named Cronos. The character possesses the Demon Sword, a dark weapon which forms out of Cronos' black blood. Cronos fatally wounds Soul, leaving Maka in a state of shock.

One of Maka's teachers rescues her in the nick of time. However, the damage was done. Maka now bears extreme guilt for putting her partner in danger. Worse still, part of Cronos' black blood flows through his body.

You have to wonder how such a series remains this unpredictable. This is partly because the series was adapted from a manga which was supposed to only last one chapter. Yet, the character designs and the slapstick jokes turned this manga into an unforgettable classic.

After 12 episodes, I'm literally shocked by the depth of this bare-bones shonen anime. "Soul Eater" is an anime based entirely on battles, but the characters move around with insane acrobatics, dodging life-threatening blows with the greatest of ease.

The most surreal scenes involve battles played out in the characters' minds. The power of the soul synchronization can literally enable characters to lose themselves in other peoples' subconscious. These scenes tend to resemble the psychoanalytical scenes of Evangelion, but the animators pepper the drama with violent battles and surreal, out-of-this-world environments.

Best of all, the female hero, Maka, is a force to be reckoned with. She slices and dices her enemies as if they were paper dolls. She doesn't even flinch when one of her teachers swings a tombstone at her.

But at it's heart, "Soul Eater" is a sweet romance between Maka and Soul. The two main heroes have completely opposite types of attitudes. Maka is the overachieving bookworm. Soul is the laidback slacker. However, they hold immense respect for each other, especially in a touching scene in episode six. Their powerful companionship literally becomes the source of their powerful moves when they synchronize their soul power.

The series garnished plenty of attention when it aired on the Cartoon Network. Although it appears to play out like a conventional shonen show, it grows into a massive, epic series involving evil forces, black blood and dreamlike drama played out in the characters' minds. As weird as this turns out, "Soul Eater" looks like a big contender for the best anime of 2010.

The first box set is available now on DVD. Stay tuned for a review of the second box in the upcoming weeks.

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Soul Eater - Who's who

2010-03-20T22:00:00.000-07:00

I have a feeling that I've confused the bejeezus out of people with my "Soul Eater" review. There's almost too many characters to keep track of. However, the character designs are some of the best I've seen, so I'll show a few pictures explaining who's who.

These are the first few characters of the series. I'll post more character profiles later.

This is Soul and Maka. They're the two main characters of "Soul Eater." Although their personalities are complete opposites, they have mutual respect for each other. Soul can turn into a scythe weapon.

Maka's hoping to make Soul powerful enough, so that he attains the title of deathscythe.

This is Black Star and his partner weapon, Tsubaki. Black Star is the ninja, who acts very much like Naruto. He makes a grand entrance before attacking his opponent. On the other hand, Tsubaki is his patient, kind partner.

Tsubaki can turn into a variety of weapons, including a sickle-and-chain and a giant throwing star.

This is Death the Kid and his two partners, Liz and Patty Thompson. Liz and Patty used to live as gangsters on the streets, until Death the Kid met them. Now, Death the Kid uses them as a pair of demon guns.

Death the Kid is one of the toughest fighters in the series, but he suffers from an obsessive-compulsive disorder. Whenever he sees anything with both sides completely symmetrical, he has to spend time admiring it. However, whenever anything is out of balance, he blows it to pieces with his demon guns.

From left to right: Liz Thompson, Death the Kid, Patty Thompson.

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Crunchyroll review - A headless fairy and Japanese gang wars

2010-03-13T23:13:00.000-08:00

"Durarara!!" is a new masterpiece which combines a motley of unusual characters with a story rich with scientific experiments and controversy.

Produced by the same studio behind "Baccano!", this series has garnered plenty of attention for its fantasy characters. Some possess superhuman strength. Others are involved with genetic mutation experiments. One of them has no head. All of them live in the eclectic Tokyo neighborhood of Ikebukuro, where gang violence runs rampant.

This review covers episodes one through eight. Each episode is narrated by a different character in the series, with each person bringing their own unique characteristics and powers to the story. The series begins behind the perspective of an incoming high school student named Mikado Ryuugamine.

Although he comes from a rural neighborhood, he grows ever intrigued by the fascinating urban legends of Ikebukuro. Certainly the area is a dangerous hot spot for the Japanese color gangs, including an obscure group known as the Dollars.

But the area is also the home of a headless motorcyclist, known simply as Celty. Her background is based on a Medieval legend of the fairy named Dullahan, who carries her head under her arm and rides a headless horse. However, Celty isn't carrying her head anymore, because someone stole it. She's now a mere transporter who rescues innocent people. She's still hoping to find what she lost.

As far-fetched as the entire story is, the pacing of the series is excellent. There isn't any single time where you feel as if the characters are spending too much time in boring conversations. Something suspicious always runs amok in Ikebukuro. Gang members kidnap innocent people. Superhuman characters are battling hordes of gangsters. A sleazy gang boss calls his minions to kill off students.

And even if most of the story involves a bunch of high-intensity encounters with extraordinary fighters, a headless motorcyclist and a Russian wrestler, nothing ever feels wasted. Every event somehow progresses the plot in subtle ways.

This is a unique tale surrounding many people who are trying to discover something they loved which was lost. All the characters are caught in a swirling cloud of mystery, in a neighborhood where anything and everything is possible.

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Click here to watch the series on crunchyroll.com

Eating Crunchyrolls - Winter 2010

2010-03-05T17:37:00.000-08:00

I've been working on a slew of news stories and whatnot, but I should have free time this weekend to write some reviews of anime series on crunchyroll.com, the hottest anime streaming Web site.

Believe it or not, you can watch anime for free on this site, as long as you can stand all the ads which pop up from time to time.

It's a legit streaming site as well. If you want, you can pay a small monthly fee to watch anime at the same time as it is broadcast in Japan. This money will pay the bills of anime companies we know and love.

Right now I'm watching a variety of series. Look forward to seeing some fun reviews of:

"Soranowoto" - People have compared this to "K-On!", because it features teenage girl characters who act really cute. Actually, this is a war story about a girl who is inspired to join the military to play a trumpet. It starts off innocent, but eventually the series includes some frightening moments of post-traumatic stress.

"Hanamaru Kindergarten" - A show about an Dragon Quest 9 addict named Tsuchida, who supervises children at a Kindergarten school. The main story is focused mostly on a girl named Anzu, who tries to get Tsuchida to fall in love with her.

"Durarara!!" - A series set in modern day Ikebukuro, where color gangs are duking it out against each other and yakuza are kidnapping innocent people. An incoming high school student named Ryuugane Mikado is looking for fun and excitement in the city, but he ends up finding plenty of shady, dangerous characters as well.

"Gintama" - In the near future, aliens have taken over the world and samurai warriors are now out of work. However, three samurai are making ends meet, taking whatever odd jobs are available.

So look forward to whatever I think about reviewing next.

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DVD Review: Road trippin' with a wolf goddess

2010-02-28T00:43:00.000-08:00

"Spice and Wolf" presents a merchant and a wolf god's hardships and struggles on a road trip to the north in 13 extraordinary episodes.

For an entire show about financial hardships and near bankruptcy, "Spice and Wolf" makes economic supply and demand exciting. The great appeal of this series lies with an unusual duo of protagonists surviving over poverty in a world resembling Medieval Europe.

The main character, Kraft Lawrence, is a wandering peddler who hopes to start his own business. However, he puts his plans on the backburner when he discovers a naked girl hiding in his carriage, with the ears and tail of a wolf.

This young woman, Holo, was the harvest goddess of the town of Pasroe. However, nowadays the villagers grow a bountiful harvest. They have converted to Christianity and they no longer need her help. She asks Lawrence to take her to Yoitsu, her homeland in the north. Although Lawrence was down on his luck, his luck may have changed upon meeting his new friend.

This series at first presents a romance for secularism. By the fourth episode, however, it becomes a plot of desperation against all odds. Lawrence discovers that someone named Zeelen cheated him out of his money with a deal to trade old silver coins for new ones.

Lawrence joins the Milone Company to safeguard his collection of old silver, but when Zeelen's associates capture Holo, the story turns into an undercover rescue operation to save Holo from the confinement of the Catholic church.

The show covers plenty of ground in just six hours. For a nearly convoluted story of mercantilism and avoiding bankruptcy, "Spice and Wolf" holds an extraordinary amount of spiritualism. Holo may bare all for her fanboys for much of the series, with explicit parts conveniently blanked out. However, she can transform into a humongous wolf in a matter of seconds. In spite of her immense power, she tries her best not to scare people away, by remaining in her human form.

The artwork brings back wonderful memories of "Princess Mononoke," with its huge wolf gods and remorseless violence during some important moments. Yet, this is a romance story at its heart. Holo and Lawrence hit it off with dialogue as compassionate and playful as the Woody Allen film "Annie Hall."

There is a humorous story arc at the end where their partnership turns into a love triangle, making for some subtle wars with words. The relationship remains as strong as ever, with two characters who grow ever closer as the show progresses.

"Spice and Wolf" is a rich story of creative conversations, love and financial retribution against corrupt companies. Certainly the plot can get convoluted at times, but "Spice and Wolf" remains the best and most consistent show for winter of 2009.

(English dub review)

Of course, a series about Medieval Europe doesn't sound as authentic without solid voice actors. Funimation's dub delivers on all levels. Not an ounce of playfulness or urgency is wasted from the characters. Holo sounds every bit as boastful and vivacious as her Japanese counterpart and Lawrence's English voice retains his cleverness and laid-back mannerisms.

It sounds every bit as good as you'd want a English dub to sound. This is voice acting at its best.

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DVD Review - Evangelion, you are (not) that bad

2010-02-21T22:39:00.000-08:00

The new Evangelion movie conveniently packs the first six episodes with beautiful computer animation, exceptional foreshadowing and lots of blood.

Many fans complained that "Evangelion 1.0 - You are (Not) Alone" dilutes all the epic drama of the series. However, the film actually builds on the excitement by shortening all the quiet moments of emotional brooding and moaning.

The story is a simple tale that many anime fans know by heart. Shinji Ikari, a teenage Japanese boy, receives an invitation to help his father in New Tokyo-3. However, he soon learns that his father, Gendo, only invited him to risk his life fighting humongous monsters in a giant robot, known as an Eva.

Of course, a reasonable father wouldn't want his inexperienced son in battle, but Gendo is hardly reasonable. Shinji refuses at first, until Gendo brings a wounded girl to substitute. Shinji, unwilling to let this girl die in battle, decides to pilot the Eva. Thus begins a tale in which Shinji must risk his life and his sanity by fighting numerous powerful angels.

This is an essential, abridged version of Evangelion that people must see. The one-and-a-half-hour format of the movie actually exemplifies the series' strengths, by showing only the important parts of the story. As a result, "Evangelion 1.0" portrays a compelling vision of Japan on the verge of an apocalypse. The new film overshadows the TV show version with dull, dark color tones and a completely devastated universe.

"Evangelion 1.0: You are (Not) Alone" exemplifies intense violence. Most of the film's big-budget visuals are based on the astonishing computer-generated battles, explosions and beautiful monsters. The angels' death sequences will undoubtedly shock many people with gushing explosions, in which blood literally rains down after every battle.

In spite of the larger-than-life scope of the imagery, the human characters share close bonds in a variety of added conversations with extraordinary backdrops. The new architectural landscapes include skyline bridges hanging from skyscrapers hundreds of stories high. Although much of the dialogue hasn't changed, the mounting sense of responsibility is propelled with floods of bright red color during a crisis. The few touching moments between Rei and Shinji are cooled with soft, calming color palettes of fuschia and coral blue.

Although I am not a big fan of the new shortened editions of anime shows, anyone who watches anime has to consider watching "Evangelion 1.0" at least once. The massive scale of this production's high-caliber animation is too captivating to pass up.

(Dub review) With all this said, the English dub is laughably bad. Spike Spencer literally screws up Shinji's voice with girly-man whines. He sounds as bad as Johnny Yong Bosch when he started dubbing Renton in "Eureka Seven." The voice actors ruin the mounting scale of the upcoming apocalypse by treating everything like a Saturday morning show.

It's terrible. Truly terrible.

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Fatal blood+ transfusions

2010-02-18T00:48:00.000-08:00

Did I say that "Blood+" was boring? Sorry, I lied. I was really bored of episodes 26-28 for a second, until episode 29 hit me with a hardball.

I can't spoil anything, but if this anime is as tragic as I think it'll turn out, then "Blood+" might turn out more depressing than many other action anime series.

Damn, one of my favorite new characters is now worse than dead. Phlegh...

Image courtesy of randomc.animeblogger.net

Blood plus too much other stuff

2010-02-13T21:15:00.000-08:00

I'm finishing up the "Blood+" series finally. It might take me a couple weeks, so I'll look for other things to review so no one gets stuck waiting for me.

Unfortunately, "Blood+" is really dragging in its second half. I wish I could say this is an epic anime like no other, but all the big plot revelations took place at the end of part one. That's it. There's two vampire factions, a kid who is now a chevalier for Saya and some other group of black hoodies who were genetically engineered by humans. Unless something especially big happens, I'm not expecting too much.

I accidentally looked at some of the spoilers on other blogs, but I'll say the ending is good. However, don't expect me to say that this is the next "Fullmetal Alchemist." Or "Eureka Seven." Because it's not. Sorry.

So, while you're waiting for "Blood+", look forward to some reviews of "Honey and Clover" and "Gurren Lagann." Maybe I'll review some crunchyroll series if I have extra time.

DVD Review: Attack of the Anti-Spirals

2010-02-10T20:35:00.000-08:00

The gratifying second volume of Gurren Lagann opens with the humans emerging victorious, but ends on the verge of a worldwide apocalypse.

The volume begins with Yoko and Simon mourning the death of their leader. However, the newcomer to the Gurren Lagann crew, Nia, changes the tone of the series for the better.

The girl announces herself as the daughter of the humans' enemy, Lord Lordgenomme. Although the crew planned to hold her hostage, she wins them over with her polite manners. More importantly, she supports Simon in opposing Lordgenomme's empire of female oppression.

Simon leads the humans to conquer the beastmen. However, in his dying breath, Lordgenomme hints that the Anti-Spirals from the moon will soon kill all life on Earth to prevent the birth of the Spiral Nemesis.

Even long-time mecha fans probably weren't expecting an apocalypse from this series. Based on all the times Kamina told Simon to pierce the heavens with his drill, you'd think this is one of the most boring, straightforward anime series ever made.

Thankfully, the series cuts the progressive momentum when alien forces possess Nia. Without giving away too much, the Anti-Spirals are hell-bent on sending their bizarre geometric spacecraft to eradicate entire cities. The big question is whether Simon or anyone will be able to stop them.

If this plot twist hadn't taken place, I would have written off this series as one-dimensional. Even if the story hadn't made the transition, I would still highly recommend this anime for its visually spectacular animation style. All the characters are drawn in a Superflat style, with cel shades lacking in depth. When the film is in motion, however, the characters express an immense range of emotions and intense action.

The robots especially leap out of the screen with exaggerated morphing sequences and brutal fight scenes. The most incredible battles take place as the Gurren Lagann team fights against the last of Lordgenomme's generals. General Guamme, a crocodile/armadillo creature, wipes out numerous mechs in a humongous top-shaped robot which spins a gigantic tornado. The final battles of the war of Teppelin are eye-catching spectacles that everyone has to see at least once.

Overall, "Gurren Lagann" is building up to a thrilling conclusion. I hope I can finish this series soon. I was upset that I wasn't able to see all the episodes in the CSULB Anime Club. Based on what I've seen, this series looks like it will end with a humongous bang.

Image courtesy of photobucket.com

Upcoming reviews in technoeroticism

2010-01-30T22:30:00.000-08:00

I had to reread part of one of my anime books for words to describe "Gurren Lagann." The one word that popped into my head immediately was "technoeroticism."

Almost all mecha series have hyperviolent battles ending with the hero destroying the enemy. The finishing move has always served as a sexual climax in destruction. However, looking back at about the midway point of "Gurren Lagann," the love of violence met an exciting, but frighteningly devastating, peak with this series. If Evangelion was the rejection of the wanton shonen apocalypse, "Gurren Lagann" poured in an excess of action and robotic dismemberment.

These are just my initial thoughts upon watching the second volume of "Gurren Lagann." The series almost feels like the Kanye West of anime. In the same way in which Kanye combines multiple soul, funk and techno tracks for his rap songs, "Gurren Lagann" combines superflat cel-shaded animation in a FLCL-style orgy of action, all held down to earth with interspersed scenes of love and romance.

If you want a teaser of how euphoric this series turns out, just listen to the song "Nikopol" from the "Gurren Lagann" soundtrack. The song is littered with chaotic DJ scratches and loud guitars. The vocals, however, sounds like some sort of bizarre Rage Against the Machine warning against Westernization and colonization. "Nikopol," named after the Greek city Nicopolis, blasts with a trippy sense of inner consciousness.

I wish Incubus sounded like this.

Image courtesy of photobucket.com

DVD Review - Art students learn about love and life

2010-01-28T00:09:00.000-08:00

The first part of "Honey and Clover" is a touching slice-of-life series contemplating on the changing relationships of art students in Japan.

The story of this anime centers around the relationships between five college artists--three young men and two young women. The main men of the series include the gray-haired sophomore Yuta Takemoto, the vivacious money-maker Shinobu Morita and the philosophical senior Takumi Mayama. They often hang out with the tall, pony-tailed girl Ayumi Yamada and their professor's little niece, Hagumi Hanamoto.

Although the series literally holds back the main story until the sixth episode, the true heart of the series is focused on the changing lives of the protagonists as they graduate or move away. Two story arcs develop with more than enough lovesick passion to make anyone cry.

The first spotlight of the show is the conflicting relationship between Ayumi Yamada and Takumi Mayama. Ayumi Yamada always loves talking to Mayama, who is already in love with the person he works for, Rika Harada.

Of course, you could easily write this off as a love that will never last, but this series persistently pulls on your heartstrings. The two friends somehow pull off a balancing act of emotional confessions, without ever breaking off their relationship. Somehow, Yamada can't stop loving Mayama.

The second story arc takes place near the halfway point of the series. At a certain point, Morita and Takemoto struggle with their strong feelings for Hagumi Hanamoto. All the pent-up emotion builds up to a heartbreaking end as Hagumi suffers an emotional breakdown and Morita looks for other jobs to make more money.

Despite the melancholy tone in the third disc of this box set, the soundtrack of acoustic guitars and pianos fills the anime with an unforgettable pop culture vibe, with music from Suga Shikao and the rock group SPITZ. The best song is the ending theme by Suneohair, "Waltz," which fills the gaps between episodes with soothing vocals and a folk rock edge.

Plenty of riotous comedy sequences also lighten the tone of the story. Morita often dresses up little Hagu so he can photograph her like a paparazzi.

The fan-favorite joke, however, involves two of the students twisting themselves almost to death while playing Twister. The spectacle is littered with comical, bone-crunching sounds and grimacing faces.

"Honey and Clover" is one of the few pieces of animation that captures life as an experience of joy and sadness. This is one of the few shows that reaches above and beyond all expectations to portray the warm nostalgia of youth and the complications involved in long-distance relationships.

Dubs and special features

"Honey and Clover" features one of the best English voice-overs I've ever heard. The American dub somehow retains all the gentle romance and the hyper, comedic energy of the series without sounding awkward.

The box set also features a fascinating documentary on the series' opening, by director Nagi Noto. In case you haven't seen it, the intro sequence is a playful montage of plates with food sculptures and cute stop-motion animation. This special features covers everything from camera positioning to tasty food choreography.

Image courtesy of photobucket.com

DVD Review - Sadistic murders and "Dani California"

2010-01-22T18:01:00.000-08:00

Live action adaptations of anime don't always work very well. However, the first "Death Note" movie is a chilling thriller with serial murders, demons and investigative mind games.

The movie starts straight out with a series of news reports on numerous criminals, all killed by a heart attack. All the deaths are tied to a college student named Light Yagami, who writes names in his "Death Note" book to kill them.

Director Shusuke Kaneko takes the story a step further with a scene in which Light met one of these suspected serial killers face-to-face. After the yakuza (Japanese gangster) member almost stabs Yagami on the spot, Light leaves the bar in the pouring rain. He's clearly frustrated that this murderer was set free.

Light's life takes a turn when the black "Death Note" book falls to the ground. Thinking this book is a joke, he writes the name of a serial killer whose face was on television. The next day, he opens the newspaper to find that this criminal is dead.

After killing the yakuza guy he met last night with his new book, Light runs into Ryuk, a demonic spirit who dropped the "Death Note" from the sky. Ryuk says the book is all his and that if Light doesn't want it, Ryuk will just erase his memory of the book and find another owner.

Eventually, Light proclaims himself a god of justice by killing unprosecuted suspects. He adopts on the Internet persona name "Kira." For all you English nuts, it's supposed to stand for killer. Get it? Kira is a killer?

Anyhow, most of the movie is based on the first few chapters of "Death Note." Soon, Light's father and a mysterious man named L lead a group of investigators to track Light down.

The second half of the film takes a dark turn as more people start to track down Light. Without saying too much about the ending, this movie shows off Light's lack of remorse for anyone. He's willing to risk everything to protect his precious book, even if he kills the person he loves the most.

The Japanese actors handle their roles with expertise in this new film. Tatsuya Fujiwara sounds every bit as cold and calculating as Light Yagami. During the scenes where he is eating potato chips and studying, no one would never suspect that Light is watching a hidden television for people to kill.

More than anything, this first film proves that Light is a true bastard who is more interested in killing off all criminals for his own idealized vision of Japan. Thankfully, Light hasn't killed the main protagonists yet, so there's enough room for director Kaneko to wrap this story up in the next film or two.

There are just a few problems with this movie. First, the ending credits features the Red Hot Chili Peppers song, "Dani California." There's no reason why a California song is in a film set in Japan, aside from the edgy, funky guitars in the song and the lyrics about "resting in peace." It sounds completely out of place.

Second, the demon Ryuk looks like a cheap computer-generated cartoon. The animators produced enough fine detail in his costume to make him appear half decent, but he still moves around like a puppet from the "Jason and the Argonauts" movie.

These are just minor, silly setbacks to a down-to-earth adaptation of a heartless story. The "Death Note" movie is a true descent into hell, because this time Light is an actual person, watching everyone for a chance to murder them.

Better yet, this movie includes some of the funniest English dubs. If you like your "Death Note" movie raw and intense, watch the original Japanese voice track. However, if you want to hear Japanese college students with valley girl-style accents and criminals who shout, "Son of a bitch!" and "Stop f***ing with me!", feel free to watch the English dubs.

My favorite dub joke is one uttered by the English voice actor for the criminal Takuo Shabuimoto, who says, "It's coming back. How it feels when the knife cuts deep into the flesh. And when it finally sinks right into the heart, 'Eeeeeeeeee! YAAAAAH! What am I doing here in this place? I don't remember!"

Image courtesy of l00klikeme.wordpress.com

DVD Box set review - Epic gang wars never die out

2010-01-19T21:23:00.000-08:00

In an earlier review, I criticized "Baccano!" for a plot which didn't make sense. However, I had only seen the first volume. After watching all 16 episodes, I really enjoyed this series as a whole.

The "Baccano!" box set released in December showcases the best qualities of 2000s anime--epic battles, splattering blood, dense storylines and incredible drama.

You probably won't understand the story of "Baccano!" from the first episodes. It looks like a mish-mash of random battles, mindless violence and unfinished storylines. However, the plot is quickly set into place in episode seven on the second DVD.

A group of alchemists meet a man named Maiza Avada aboard the Advenna Avis in 1711. He summons a demon to produce an elixir, giving all the passengers complete immortality. However, everyone also has the ability to devour other immortals to gain their knowledge.

The shrewd Szilard Quates plots to devour Maiza, but his plan is thwarted when the other people warn Maiza. He escapes by jumping overboard, only to reappear in urban America in the 1930s.

This anime is about far more than just defeating an immortal overlord. Characters such as Czeslaw Meyer suffer horrific torture from his immortal guardian. Eva Geonard is searching for her lost brother, who was captured by the Geonard family of immortals.

Meanwhile, the Camorra gang's new recruit, Firo Pinocacchio, bumps into a mysterious woman named Ennis, who is working for Szilard. Szilard's cooking up a new elixir which keeps people from aging.

To make matters even more confusing, a ruthless gang war ensues on a train known as the Flying Pussycat. The Russo family assassins, led by Ladd Russo, plan to kill all the members of the Laforet family. On top of this, a Rail Tracer is killing passengers on the train.

If all this sounds too much to handle, don't worry. It all wraps up nicely at around episode 14. There's plenty of gang wars, but the series isn't all about gangs.

"Baccano!" is all about the everlasting bonds the characters make as they regenerate throughout the series. Characters such as Isaac Dian and Miria Harvent spread their goodwill to everyone by stealing money from the gangsters and giving the money away to the public. Firo helps Ennis socialize with his friends.

Even newcomers such as the mute Chanel LaForet learn to escape from their gang affiliations by loving other people. "Baccano!" might features some of the bloodiest battles in anime history, but it has a big heart. This series is about the unbreakable love between friends, even as people kill them numerous times.

Although you could say this is an evil series about a deal with the devil, this series keeps the hocus pocus witchcraft to a minimum. Instead, "Baccano!" delivers a dazzling story about unforgettable acquaintances and friendships within some ruthless gang wars in 1930s New York. This is an absolute must-see series that everyone has to watch at least once.

Image courtesy of seaslugteam.com

Anime Preview - Eye of the Taiga

2010-01-10T17:49:00.000-08:00

"Toradora!" is a surprise hit for 2009, beginning as a harem romance and ending with immensely dramatic dialogue.

The story begins like a conventional love story. Episode one introduces us to Ryuuji Takasu, a typical high school guy who holds a secret crush on Minori Kushieda, a female baseball team captain. Kushieda's friend, Taiga Aisaka, is a bratty young girl who has a crush on Takasu's best friend, Yuusaku Kitamura.

Ryuuji and Taiga team up together to convince their own crushes to love them. However, they don't seem to listen. In fact, their classmates all think that Ryuuji and Taiga make a cute couple.

We clearly see how this series will end after episode 20 or so, but the journey there is really the real meat of the series. When you look at the series as a whole, the real conflict is focused around the main characters' family lives.

For starters, Ryuuji has no father. His mother lives alone, working as a barmaid at night. The short Taiga, on the other hand, was kicked out of her house by her wealthy parents. She lives alone in an apartment.

And by fate, these two characters just happen to live next to each other. Although they united to fulfill their own goal of winning the hearts of the people they love, their true happiness comes from their struggle for independence.

The series turns even more rowdy after Ami Kawashima, a popular teenage model with a split personality, transfers to their school. She has a crush on Ryuuji, leading to plenty of romantic entanglements. By episode eight, the anime plays out like a violent harem, with plenty of girls fighting over Ryuuji and Yuusaku.

However, these characters are not iconic, like the harem fantasy in "Love Hina" or the slapstick comedy couple in "Lovely Complex." Sure, Taiga and Ryuuji begin as a comedic duo, in which Taiga usually beats her friend up like mincemeat whenever she feels insulted.

However, the story dialogue is turns this love story into a sort of sports film, without all the sports references. Taiga and Ryuuji become the victorious couple overcoming the problems within their family. Even when their angst turns into public despair, they eventually reach triumphant moments of revelation by the end of the show's run.

The series is not available in the U.S., but the series has plenty of buzz following its 25-episode run.

DVD publishers will definitely want to license this series. If anyone wants to find a solid romance anime with characters who actually grow in maturity, give "Toradora!" a try if it comes out on DVD. You won't regret watching it.

Image courtesy of janaiblog.wordpress.com

DVD Review - I ain't afraid of no ghost

2010-01-02T22:28:00.000-08:00

Eat your heart out, Bill Murray. There's a new group of ghostbusters in town.

The first part of the "Ghost Hunt" anime series will grab your attention with intriguing scientific investigations of curses, ghosts and supernatural phenomena.

The story begins when the main character, Mai Taniyama, finds a teenage boy investigating the building next to her high school for ghosts and powerful psychic beings.

The boy, Kazuya Shibuya, heads the Shibuya Psychic Research Center. His assistants include an electrical equipment specialist, a Buddhist monk, a Shinto priestess, an Australian Catholic exorcist and a spirit medium on a popular television show. Each character has a special power to suppress the power of demons and spirits.

Shibuya determines the occult phenomena taking place using carefully deduction and keen technology. His crew uses everything at their disposal, from thermal temperature readers to hidden cameras and microphones.

This series most likely won't scare the bejeezus out of you in the beginning. However, as the Shibuya Psychic Research Center discovers more ghastly figures to purify or exorcise, the series turns into a frightening, fascinating X-Files-style mystery. Mai even discovers her own psychic powers as she investigate with her new friends.

The series hits an emotional peak with the third case, "The After School Hexer." Their biggest enemy curses the students and teachers around a high school with voodoo doll-style hexes known as hitogata. When the doll with the victim's name is destroyed, the person suffers fatally. Mai and Shibuya run into some precarious near-death situations, even falling into a sewer.

"Ghost Hunt" makes for a great alternative to the boring American prime time whodunits. The anime features some unexpected comedy episodes, including a gut-busting romantic episode in the park. An airheaded ghost possesses the spirit medium's body and starts cuddling next to the nonchalant Shibuya.

The series isn't perfect. The opening and ending credit sequences are disappointing, with cheap orchestral music and lame computer-generated images.

The characters are undeveloped and somewhat goofy. We don't completely understand why all these spiritual people are working for Shibuya in the first place. People will also wonder how the Lord's prayer and "holy water" would actually weaken the powers of ghosts. Fortunately, the anime is more based on religious and ghoulish mythology, so we expect to see some fantasy stories in the show.

"Ghost Hunt" is a surprisingly enjoyable show. Although Shibuya acts like a cold fish for the entire series, Mai and Shibuya make a lovely team. I'm looking forward to watching more mystery stories in this anime.

Image courtesy of rightstuf.com

You fail, Jonathan!

2010-01-02T01:46:00.000-08:00

Did I ever mention that I still haven't finished watching "Gurren Laggan"? It's a sin, but I haven't finished watching episodes past the point where ______ dies. I've popped into certain snippets of the final half, but I still haven't finished the series from start to finish.

So for my new year's resolutions, I will make sure that I:

1. Finish "Gurren Laggan."
2. See all the other great romantic comedies and other romantic stuff that I've forgotten about.
3. Stop laying on my poor Pikachu pillow. I have two now, but I should take better care of the first one.

But first things first. Let's finish "Ghost Hunt" part one and see what else is left to review.

DVD Review: Lively dragons ruined by confusing story

2009-12-18T00:22:00.000-08:00

The first part of "Dragonaut" falls apart with an overload of substories, main characters and lots of explosions.

To be fair, "Dragonaut" has a very simple plot which can be summarized in a single paragraph. Pluto's moon is sending dragons to destroy our planet. Our only hope is the Dragonauts, who pilot dragons born on the Earth.

Within this story is a whole slew of subplots. The main story focuses on Jin, a teenage boy who survived a horrible shuttle crash with an asteroid object. Two years later, he runs away from home and almost dies. He gets saved by Toa, a pink-haired girl who can transform into a dragon.

Many groups, including the ISDA and the Guillard New Emirates, want to capture Toa. Thus, Toa tries to keep Jin away from her, so he doesn't know about her destructive past. Of course, Jin can't let that happen, because he's in love with her.

Thus, the story should have played out in a basic fashion. However, the massive number of characters and subplots pile up to make one of the most complicated stories ever heard in an anime.

For starters, the ISDA owns a bunch of dragons. However, these dragons can transform into an anthropomorphic human form, with a special character name. Oh, and there's some special dragons known as the originals, who crash-landed on the Earth to do something with dragon eggs.

By the time a new species of neo-original dragons arrive on Earth, you won't even want to bother trying to understand it all. Nearly every character finds a way to double-cross their friend, forcing the anime to enter a mega apocalyptic sequence with explosions, evil factions, vengeful dragons and a whole slew of arch-rivals who want to ruin the world.

The series had immense potential. It started with a bunch of flashy, aerial fist-fights, transforming dragons and a love story. The girls looked unbelievably sexy, with ridiculously big breasts and curvaceous bodies. The main characters even had a clean look, wearing surfer-style clothes.

However, this is ultimately all that the series has. Part one of "Dragonaut" starts off as a fresh, exciting action series, but it winds down into an extremely convoluted plot that only truly dedicated fans would figure out. "Dragonauts" disappoints everyone with a lame script and a storyline with too many snags.

Image courtesy of randomc.animeblogger.net

There will be blood. Buckets of it.

2009-12-14T14:56:00.000-08:00

I was going to finish up with Dragonaut, but then I remembered that I haven't finished watching "Baccano!" yet. The box set of "Baccano!" will be released on Dec. 30, in time for the post-New Year's sales.

The series is an incredible one, based around the conversations in-between fighting fatal battles with knives, guns and explosives. If my final article doesn't slow down my schedule, I should finish watching the anime sometime tomorrow.

So look forward to a review of one of the bloodiest series ever made.

Missing the Daily 49er

2009-12-10T21:45:00.000-08:00

Well, it looks like I'm finished with the Daily 49er. I already miss working with everyone.

I'm probably going to update this blog more often, now that I have more free time. Breaking up with one of my favorite papers in the world is hard to do. I've labored with countless numbers of great people on the Daily 49er staff.

I love putting stories on paper. Electronic journalism just isn't as rewarding as the effort put into publishing literature in print. There's so much to enjoy about producing these pieces of precious paper every day.

Anyhow, I wish my staff members the best of luck as I venture into the real world. Geez, reality bites.

Anime preview: The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya

2009-11-20T20:45:00.000-08:00

The last episodes of the second season of "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya" mix mischief, emotional angst and science fiction in a fascinating story.

Despite the general disgust of the "Endless Eight" story arc, the last part, "The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya," is well worth a second look. Although fans hated this series after "Endless Eight," they definitely have to stick around to watch Haruhi produce a student film with the S.O.S. Brigade.

The story is simple. Haruhi Suzumiya wants to do something with the club for the school's cultural fair. For whatever reason, she decides she will hold a film screening for a movie.

And of course, Kyon and the other group members have to participate in it. They don't have much of a choice, considering that the fate of the world depends on Haruhi's satisfaction.

This film, of course, is a direct reference to the student film spoof in episode 0 of the first season. This was a cheap, but laugh-out-loud funny movie with Asahina as a battle waitress.

Now, some people might think the film process might be boring. However, Haruhi makes things especially interesting, because anything she wishes has the possibility of coming true. She is a god, after all.

As we saw in the "Endless Eight" saga, Haruhi has the power to change all possible laws of time and space, rendering her as more powerful than even Lain Iwakura from Serial Experiments Lain.

Unlike Lain, Haruhi has no idea she has these powers, making the anime even more chaotic. Haruhi manages to talk store owners into giving her props and film equipment. She even manages to find a colored contact lens for Asahina to wear.

Regardless of what anyone thinks of this series after the "Endless Eight," no one can deny that "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya" is the most unpredictable anime series ever made. It has the tendency to switch from a comedy to a dark drama instantly. The characters are constantly on the edge, especially in this story arc. Everyone is literally hoping that no one dies because of Haruhi's imagination.

At the same time, the story carries a deep, religious theme. In the 13th episode, Kyon and Haruhi go completely emotional, arguing over how they should film the movie. However, he knows that the film is much more productive than anything that the guys at school are doing. It's a touching love story with a god, even if it is very unconventional.

The second season is definitely a must-have series. Despite how much people hate "Endless Eight," this series is a serious reflection on the otaku culture of Japan as well as the fate of a post-war world. It is extremely volatile, because Haruhi is such an unpredictable character who has the potential to explode with anger and destroy the entire fabric of the the universe.

At the same time, it is a comedy. It will probably be one of the most infamous comedies ever created. With the grand implementation of special effects, science fiction and emotional angst, there's no telling where this anime will go.

Images courtesy of randomc.animeblogger.com

DVD Review: Gondolas and love for the city

2009-11-20T19:28:00.000-08:00

I love "Aria," and even after 37 episodes I really want to see more.

The second half of season two is surprisingly charming, with a smorgasboard of touching scenes and reunions.

Aria's 37 episodes of over 15 hours of relaxing gondola drama and comedy might seem a little long-winded. However, the series mixes things up with some big tearjerkers. The first tearjerker takes place in the 15th and 16th episodes in a long farewall story arc to Akari's gondola.

The memories are priceless. The flashback clips in these episodes include precious moments of Akari when she first starts paddling backwards on her gondola. Among the memories is the first time the gondoleer passes her first exam on a course.

As the series moves on, it becomes more and more difficult to pick a favorite character, because each one has a special moment in part two. Aika has an especially emotional moment when she finds the hairstyle she likes, rather than copying Alicia all the time. Her best moment takes place when she takes the time to visit her boyfriend, Edward, just to see if he likes her hair.

Unlike season one, there are moments of compelling suspense. Episode 20 takes Akari on a journey to transport a ghost, who is rumored to have "spirited away" anyone who takes her to San Marco Island on a gondola. This is an episode based almost entirely on visuals and moods, but the ending is a touching tribute to "My Neighbor Totoro."

Even though the theme of spreading happiness is repeated throughout the series, "Aria" never gets old. Somehow, director Junichi Sato finds ways of showing messages of thankfulness without getting too overbearing. Unlike Ghost in the Shell or Fullmetal Alchemist, "Aria" focuses on the beauty of a city. Everything, from the urban legends to the warm parties, is a portrayal of childlike playfulness.

Even the joke episodes are completely over-the-top with humorous twists. Akari talks with her cat, President Aria about alternate universes and says that maybe if he slips in the little space between th,e stairs, he'll enter an world with different types of characters. The curious president decides to slip through the stairs, but the new world is a lot more frightening than anyone might expect.

The series ends with a Redentore festival in the fall, to celebrate the passing of the old season and the start of the new. However, the series doesn't end with the classic new year's day celebration. Instead, Episode 37 focuses on Alicia, Akari's mysterious mentor. When Akari asks Alicia what kind of person she wanted to be when she was a child. Oddly enough, Alicia starts rolling a snowball without answering Akari. Other people soon start helping the two women roll the snowball to make a humongous snowman.

Alicia's response at the end of the episode is a lovely conclusion that sums up the entire message of "Aria" in a few simple words. Even if "Aria" is still a big fluffy collection of sweet, cotton candy stories, it is a wonderful series nonetheless.

On Haruhi

2009-11-20T16:49:00.000-08:00

I'm still fascinated by the whole Haruhi fiasco. Sure, it was eight episodes of madness, but it was also an unusual experiment that hasn't been tried in anime before. After all, almost no anime director would dare to string together eight episodes of nearly the same thing.

Most hardcore fans, especially Americans, hated the Endless Eight with a passion. However, I think it was also a test to force the otaku community to analyze their own reasons for watching anime for hours on end.

In the Answerman column of the Anime News Network, Adam Bruck gave some intriguing comments on the Haruhi Endless Eight.

"While the 7-week and counting repetition of Endless Eight is not good in any sense of the word, the fact that Kadokawa and/or Kyoani went this direction at all and the overwhelmingly negative public response make the situation very interesting.
Haruhi, of course, was a mega-hit that reached sales numbers and fandom seen only by shonen and giant robot anime. The fanbase was full of very obsessed people who helped the series sell a million CDs and DVDs and tons of character goods. It's incredible that a company would willingly destroy such a franchise. From a business standpoint, Endless Eight seems like exactly the wrong thing to do; from a fan's standpoint, it's depressing to see the continuation of an amazing first season turn out like this.
However, the fan reaction provides an interesting social experiment - what happens when you severely piss off a group of obsessed, introverted, hardcore Otaku who basically live for this stuff? (I know most Haruhi fans aren't like that, but the most vocal ones are.)"

Like many fans of "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya," I have trouble deciding whether to like it or hate it. However, I really respect Kyoto Animation's stance. It's really hard to release eight episodes of endless repetition, but the series has gone far in yanking people out of their comfort zones. Unfortunately, if I say that I love it, I'm certain that some people will inevitably troll me for my views.

I'm thankful that very few people comment on this blog, for my sake.

Image courtesy of randomc.animeblogger.net

Anime preview: The Endless Eight!

2009-11-15T18:31:00.000-08:00

I figure I have to write about this sometime. I don't want to, but I will.

The second season of "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya" rolls to a repetitive, but intriguing start with a series of eight episodes of nearly the same scenes.

For anyone unacquainted with this series, the first season started an anime craze. It's a simple love story between high school students Kyon and Haruhi Suzumiya. Suzumiya, fascinated with beings from outer space, starts a club known as the S.O.S. Brigade. The mission of the club is to search for psychics, time travelers and aliens. Ironically, the club has attract an odd trio of students: a psychic named Itsuki Koizumi, a time traveler girl named Mikuru Asahina and an invincible alien named Yuki Nagato.

They all stick around to please Haruhi, who happens to be a god. The fate of the entire world rests on Haruhi's well-being. Kyon's destiny is to make sure she is always happy, so that the world doesn't self-destruct.

Season two actually starts fine in episode one with the "Bamboo Rhapsody" story. Mikuru engages in a stellar time travel episode, in which Kyon and Mikuru jump back three years in the past to help Haruhi make some mysterious chalk drawings on the ground. The episode is an intriguing head-trip which leaves Kyon wondering whether he actually inspired Haruhi's fascination with aliens, psychics and time travelers.

Then the series take a serious downer. Sort of. Episodes 2 through 9 focus on the "Endless Eight" story arc. This is an adaptation of a two-chapter story in the manga, in which all the characters are trapped in an endless summer vacation, which takes place between August 17 and August 30. This is due in part because Haruhi doesn't want the summer to ever end.

The characters soon discover that time keeps shifting back two weeks from the end of August 30, because something in the time continuum is missing. Mikuru is the only one who knows exactly what is wrong, but she can't give away anything, because it's classified information.

This is actually a cool mind-trip, if it only went on for two or so episodes. However, Endless Eight plods on through a draining saga of eight episodes of nearly the same events. This is definitely the story arc that will test the patience of the most devoted anime lovers, who would rather watch something different in every new episode.

One could possibly say that the producers of the series wanted introverted anime addicts to analyze themselves and find some sort of deeper meaning throughout their own lives. However, it's more likely that this story arc resulted from difficult infighting within the Kyoto Animation studio over the direction of the series. The first season's director, Yamamoto Yutaka, said he only wanted "Endless Eight" to run for two episodes and apologized to the fans of the series. Then Kyoto Animation fired back with a statement saying that they have disowned Yutaka.

Regardless of whether anyone hates or loves the "Endless Eight," the entire arc is a horrific experience within itself. The obon festival's music is an eerie, soft flute tune that looms over the series like a scary dream. Even the voice actors give some shocking variations in their performance, especially in the last episode of the Endless Eight. Asahina is hardly understandable as she bawls her eyes out reciting each line. It's clear that Asahina, Koizumi and Nagato are emotionally exasperated from the entire experience.

Watchers will be forever divided over whether the story is a representation of the emptiness of the kawaii culture of anime or a total mess caused by company in-fighting. The bigger question is whether it will forever be remembered as a mind-tripping masterpiece or the biggest waste of time in anime history. I'm leaning toward the latter, but only time will tell whether it will be known as an experimental classic, as "Neon Genesis Evangelion" was.

No matter what anyone thinks of it, though, it is certainly a nerve-wracking experience which will test the patience of everyone who watches it if it ever is released in America. And that's a big "if."

Click here to see how much the Kyoto Animation studio hated the Endless Eight.

Image courtesy of randomc.animeblogger.net

Funimation video quality outdated

2009-11-06T02:30:00.000-08:00

Okay, I'd have to say that free Funimation videos are great. However, they can't seriously consider taking over the anime world if their video quality is this choppy.

I mean, I love watching "Galaxy Express 999" on the Internet. It's one of the rarest series to find in the U.S. and now it's free to watch. However, the video on funimation.com is so choppy that it's inexcusable.

Blech. Fix your video Funimation. I really want to watch more, but you're letting me down. Maybe I'm better off using a LAN cable instead of wireless.

YouTube review: Galaxy Express 999

2009-11-05T23:26:00.000-08:00

The odds are pretty high that very few people have heard of "Galaxy Express 999," considered by some anime directors as a masterpiece.

"Galaxy Express 999" is a campy but exciting classic with a colorful cast of characters and space-traveling trains.

The plotline alone is a big ball of cheese. In the setting of this series, the wealthiest humans are able to convert their bodies into cyborg parts, so that they'll never have to eat again. Of course, this leaves the poor humans down in the slums to starve. A rumor spread through the impoverished community that the legendary Galaxy Express 999 train line will take people to a planet where they can turn their body into a cyborg.

Episode one opens with Tetsuro and his mother looking for the Megalopolis station with the Galaxy Express line in a blizzard. Things quickly turn tragic when a cyborg gang kills his mother to post on a wall as a trophy. Tetsuro collapses in the freezing cold, but is thankfully saved by a blonde-haired woman named Martel.

She offers him an unlimited ride pass on the Galaxy Express 999, as long as he takes her with him. Thus begins a long story of revenge and liberation.

Admittedly, the character designs and technology is even goofier than the gadgets found in The Jetsons. Mars looks more like the wild wild west. A space cowboy named "Geronomo" makes a cameo. However, the campiness is exactly what makes "Galaxy Express 999" one of the coolest anime series ever made. The opening sequence of trains in space and Japanese enka singing only escalates the funky 70s feel to a level that is indescribably sexy.

There's even more to it than campiness though. This is one of the series which inspired series such as "Fullmetal Alchemist" with its portrayal of cyborgs. Certainly the visual theme is nothing new, but the second episode alone has enough drama and violence to make someone think twice about outfitting bodies with automail.

Hands down, "Galaxy Express 999" is a classic treat for anyone who loves anime with cyborgs and corny futuristic designs. Watch it for free at funimation.com.

Image courtesy of dereklieu.wordpress.com

Long time no see

2009-11-04T22:37:00.001-08:00

Sorry if I'm a little late posting. For a few weeks I was working on a difficult Halloween story, some CD reviews and a couple other things.

I'm getting caught up on my anime watching. Stay tuned for an review of season two of "Aria" sometime this weekend.

Now after that, I have a few options. I could either watch the emo ninjas in "Nabari," or the shapely women of "Dragonauts." Some of the characters have quite an exaggerated body figure.

Feel free to watch the series online.

Image courtesy of randomc.animeblogger.net

YouTube review: Fullmetal Awesome

2009-10-17T00:41:00.000-07:00

Okay, I really have to confess that I almost passed over "Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood." Anime News Network gave it a pretty hard review, for the simpler animation style and some goofy, super-deformed drawings.

However, Brotherhood is a big improvement over the original for its excellent story and pacing.

For anyone who doesn't know the plot of the series by now, the series follows Edward and Alphonse Elric in their quest to find the philosopher's stone. Alphonse lost his entire body and Ed lost an arm and a leg in exchange for attempting to ressurect their dead mother. Al and Ed are now hoping to find the stone to regenerate their bodies/body parts again.

I'm already salivating over the new version's change from pop culture phenomenon to an dramatic tale of redemption. Rather than focus on intense orchestral music and extremely fancy fight sequences, the director gave most of his attention to the pacing of the action and the acting tone of the characters.

The result is a true masterpiece: exactly what the original intended to be.

The best improvement takes place in episode three, Ed and Al's trip to Liore to find clues to the philosopher's stone. Instead, the brothers discover a fraudulent priest, Cornello, who uses a stone ring to revive the dead with alchemy. Ed and Al head to the temple to ask the priest how to use the stone.

Director Seiji Mizushima does a fantastic job. He never overextends the emotional outrage of the character. In fact, their tone of voice is compassionate and respectful.

The best example is a conversation between Ed and Rose, a believe in the religion of the sun god, Leto. Rose clearly states her religious beliefs in defiance to Ed's atheist beliefs. Thankfully, even Ed is willing to confess that he wishes to ask for forgiveness for his and his brother's sins.

The actors pull off an incredible job. They never overextend their emotional dialogue. Anyone would be shocked at how Father Cornello tears apart Rose's emotions, by asking her to shoot her newfound friends.

It's a polarizing scene of disgust towards villains who go to extreme ends to eradicate their enemies. This powerful episode took a second version to get the drama right on target, but it sold me over with its heroic characters.

This is just the beginning. The storyline can only get better from here. Stay tuned for more updates to "Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood," also known as Fullmetal Awesome.

The series is available to watch on YouTube.

Image courtesy of randomc.animeblogger.net

A Second Look - Intro

2009-10-16T01:36:00.000-07:00

I've decided to add a new category of stories to my blog: A Second Look. Sometimes I gloss over all the details of a series and I forget to make any thoughtful analysis of it. This is usually because I haven't finished it yet.

So in these situations, it's a good idea to take another look into this series, to clearly pick apart what makes each one unique in its message.

Probably the first one I'll take a second look at is "Fullmetal Alchemist." I've paid almost too much attention to the epic story, intense action and trendy punk rock opening and ending songs. Admittedly, the series almost feels like a power-pop entity within itself. However, I'll try to pay attention more to how the series uses the transformation of the body to explicitly show various forms of corruption and heartlessness.

It sounded weird at first. However, after a couple minutes pondering the series' arguments against "get-rich quickly" schemes and whatnot, I think I was actually getting somewhere.

Ha, imagine me trying to actually understand a cool phenomenon of transforming metal bodies and gothic homunculi. Hahaha. I'm such a geek...

Re-release madness: Paradise Kiss

2009-10-13T18:20:00.000-07:00

One of the series I really missed out on reviewing last year was "Paradise Kiss." The series was picked up and re-released by Funimation.

"Paradise Kiss" portrays the excitement and danger of the fashion industry in Japan with striking, and sometimes depressing, realism.

It begins with a spiky-haired rock band guy catching a glimpse of Yukari, a beautiful high school girl. Scared off by his "pick-up lines," the girl runs into a transvestite and faints. Next thing she knows, she wakes up to find herself in Paradise Kiss, the bar turned into a fashion studio. The employees include the transvestite, the punk rocker, a cute pink-haired girl and a tall, gray-haired man named George.

They are all interested in keeping Yukari around to model their new clothing brand, ParaKiss. However, Yukari is more interested in George, the elusive ladie's man who wants to keep Yukari around for more than just modeling. Her best friend in school, Hiroyuki Tokumori, soon worries about her absence from school. Only time will tell when Yukari truly finds her own sense of happiness.

This romance story is clearly intended for more mature audiences. Right from the bat in episode two, viewers will catch a glimpse of a hot make-out session between two employees at the fashion studio. This is just a foreshadowing of some of the steamier moments to come in the series.

"Paradise Kiss" isn't just about sex. It encompasses a tedious romantic entanglement in Yukari's life, in probably one of her most stressful moments in the school year. George is clearly using the schoolgirl, but at the same time, he opens up a new world of possibilities for Yukari. Although the manga tends to portray him more as a jerk, the anime is more even-handed in its portrayal of this handsome prince with an obsession for young romance.

The complexity of romance in "Paradise Kiss" is what makes it unforgettable. Sure, there are moments when the characters are obnoxious. However, all these unique voice actors give complicated performances, making "Paradise Kiss" one of the best anime I've ever seen. The two lead characters especially expose the unnerving possessiveness of rich men in Japan, while at the same time revealing the seductiveness of the Japanese fashion world.

Some critics are bound to disagree with me. Yet, the unsettling drama portrayed in "Paradise Kiss" is a powerful glimpse of all the problems and new possibilities of a post-modern Japan.

Image courtesy of funimation.com

DVD Review: More relaxing in Neo-Venezia

2009-10-09T09:36:00.000-07:00

It's especially hard to keep up the momentum for "Aria," an incredibly relaxing series with serene imagery and comforting character.

However, even "Aria" has some really unusual characters in Neo-Venezia to add some variety in season two.

The first part of season two brings back all the classic characters of "Aria" for a reunion at the Carnivale. All Akari's buddies from season one, including little Ai, return to Aria to see the mysterious Casanova.

This sets up Akari and Ai's new Totoro impersonation. The humongous, masked Casanova invites Akari and Ai to join in his dance. There's nothing cuter than watching Akari and Ai sing "Zutto, zutto, zutton, pon!" while they are following the Casanova, who may be related to Cait Sith, king of the cats.

There's plenty of new characters who arrive. Probably the best new addition, however, is the gnome Edward, who is also Aika's love interest. Their new romance is one of the most touching parts of season two. There's something charming when Aika says that Edward is so unfairly nice. She tries to look away, but the chemistry they have together is irresistable. Aika even comes up with a line to say to him whenever he gives weird elderly statements to Aika aloud.

The characters also take up more difficult changes to their attitudes in this series. Alice has a dramatic episode in which she turns down a warm invitation to have dinner with the other Pairs (gondola navigators) in her company, Orange Planet. She has a nervous fear that her coworkers are jealous of her and hate her. Thankfully, her teacher, Athena, is willing to help her open up.

Admittedly, the series makes me fall asleep, but not because it is boring. In fact, the beautiful images of water and the complex characters are just captivating. However, I often wondered just how long the anime director could keep this series of pure bliss intact. "Aria" ran for 39 episodes. It's difficult to keep the tone consistent, yet allow room for the characters to evolve.

However, there's plenty of things for the characters to say, because they always discover new things that are unique in Neo-Venezia. Whether they encounter the ruins of a neverending cat city, a bakery which serves bread made from buckwheat noodles, or a children's puppeteer, there's always something new in the city to find.

Most of all, Akari is friendlier than ever. The bubbly characters never lose their charm. I'm already itching to watch the second part of season two.

Image courtesy of aria.rightstuf.com

Re-release madness - Rumbling Hearts

2009-09-30T23:25:00.000-07:00

I noticed that I still didn't finish "Rumbling Hearts," so I figured I'd watch all the episodes.

"Rumbling Hearts" is a lousy, sexist romance anime, with women who are so dependent on their men and sex that it's just disgusting.

The plot revolves around Takayuki Narumi, some bumbling teenage guy who is a friend of Mitsuki Hayase, the top swimmer at the high school. One of Mitsuki's girl friends, Haruka Suzumiya, has a crush on Narumi, so Mitsuki hooks the two together. They become close friends, and they even have sex together. However, the love story ends tragically with a fatal car crash putting Haruka in a coma.

The second half of the story takes place three years later. Within this time period, Narumi has a romance with Mitsuki, who is now part of an insurance company. However, everything seems to change when Haruka finally wakes up from her coma.

Overall, the storyline is passable. However, "Rumbling Hearts" suffers from overplaying the drama. Mitsuki is a jerk, who really doesn't care much for her former friend who almost died in a car accident. In fact, Mitsuki spends half of the series worrying that Narumi will not love her anymore. She's so obsessed that she tries her best to keep Narumi's attention off of Haruka.

This story boils down to the voice actors and the story, which is extremely overrated on the Anime News Network and animenfo.com Web sites. Eventually, this anime revolves completely around Narumi's love relationships will all three girls in the story: even Haruka's sister. With so many girlfriends around, people will wonder why on Earth Narumi would want to focus on the selfish Mitsuki, who obsesses all the time about whether Narumi loves her.

Narumi claims that he doesn't want anyone to get hurt, but what he's really saying is that he wants to make sure Mitsuki doesn't kill herself looking for someone else to love her. The screenwriter is so self-centered in restraining Mitsuki to an overdependent relationship with Narumi. Honestly, women in Japan will never want to be this constrained to the servitude of other men.

In fact, the only likable character in this series is Haruka. Yet, even she keeps longing for a sexual relationship with Narumi after she awakens from her coma. Haruka is supposed to be the strong, independent girl who learns to fight to recover, but even she is restricted to relying on Narumi for all her support. Narumi is not trustable either: he always seems to be lying about his own relationship status constantly.

There's very little to appreciate about "Rumbling Hearts," which is based on an equally disgusting dating game. In fact, there should be no reason for it to gain so much popularity in America. However, the male audience of anime fans undoubtedly love this infantile orgy of adolescent sex and romantic overdependence. Honestly, they should know better than to watch this series, which is filled with a bunch of jerks fighting for selfish romance.

Image courtesy of funimation.com

Movie review: Eureka Seven movie soars to imaginative heights

2009-09-24T23:07:00.000-07:00

The new "Eureka Seven" movie is filled with baffling transformations and provocative twists, but the ending is breathtaking.

For anyone who hasn't seen the series, the plot of "Eureka Seven" centers around two teenagers, Renton and Eureka, who team up with the rebel group Gekkostate to save the world from being destroyed. The movie, however, places these characters in an alternate universe, with most of them having completely different attitudes.

The film opens with the military capturing Eureka, an innocent alien girl and childhood friend of Renton. Fortunately, the military left Renton's cute larvae animal, Nirvash. The animal grows into a humongous robot, which Renton uses to fight as a corporal in the military. However, when Renton discovers Eureka in a gigantic alien Eizo, he discovers a boatload of military conspiracies.

Although it's a little difficult to follow all the plotlines in the film, "Eureka Seven: Good Night, Sleep Tight, Young Lovers" will definitely confound longtime fans of the original series. All the characters from the original series are so different in the film, thanks to some particularly shocking plot twists. For starters, all the old members of Gekkostate are actually 17-year-olds in the bodies of rapidly aging adults.

This is the most stunning transformation in the movie, turning the laidback Gekkostate members from laid-back surfers in the TV series to angry adults who want to stop all time permanantly with the help of Renton and Eureka.

People may have a tough time imagining the Gekkostate leader, Holland, as a snotty, bratty villain. However, considering how often he beat up Renton in the TV series, this change is completely understandable.

There are plenty of awkward dubs. Some parents may cringe when the teenage Eureka asks Renton if they could sleep together, just as they did when they were kids. Some of the script lines are just as strange. No one would even expect the world of Neverland to get mentioned in a film that has more to do with flashy visuals and science mumbo-jumbo.

Despite the oddity of the entire film, it all makes sense somehow. Renton and Eureka learn to love each other, no matter who tries to join them in their sadistic, violent plots. Best of all, Eureka learns to let go of her selfish attitude in order to help Renton live. "Eureka Seven" is a masterpiece in demonstrating how cooperative love can look so damned beautiful on the big screen.

Best of all, Johnny Yong Bosch gives possibly his best voice acting performance as Renton. Fans have sometimes cringed during the first few episodes of the English dub of "Eureka Seven," when he spoke in a horrible, over-feminine voice with no aggression. In "Good Night, Sleep Tight, Young Lovers," Bosch projects all his dramatic lines with breathtaking power and emotion.

The ending, to say the least, is a visual feast for the eyes. It's a heartwarming love tale, about a renewal of love over the reign of destruction and chaos. True, "Ponyo" was more refined than "Eureka Seven." However, no relationship is more compassionate than the one between Renton and Eureka.

Image courtesy of eurekasevenmovie.bandai-ent.com

DVD Review: Geass and the apocalypse

2009-09-04T01:13:00.000-07:00

"Code Geass: Part Three" is a brutally violent masterpiece, examining the brutality of Lelouch's demonic powers.

In episodes 18-21, the series turns into a strange beast in a league of its own--a harem romance anime.

That's right. Just when "Code Geass" couldn't get even more zany, director Goro Taniguchi decided to add in situations in which all of the Brittanians and (Japanese) Eleven soldiers came together for the student festival.

Admittedly, the series almost gets too carried away with all the relationships between characters. For starters, Lelouch had a deeply romantic relationship with his sister Princess Euphemia of the Brittanians in episode 19. One of the Black Knights, Ohgi, has a relationship with a Brittanian soldier, Villeta Nu. Suzaku also has some feelings for the female hotshot of the Black Knights, Kallen Kouzaki. Lastly, Shirley's regaining her memory of her previous crush on LeLouch.

Without revealing too much about the ending, Euphemia first declares that Brittanians shall treat the Japanese as equals. LeLouch in his Zero costume meets with Euphemia and gets very close to using his Geass power, until Milly reveals that she is resigning from her position as princess. She wants to live with LeLouch and his little sister, Nunnally, again. But LeLouch's Geass power is much stronger than even he realizes, and the massacre after he takes control is the final straw, leading to a murderous scene.

It's fitting that C.C. is the angel of death, to say the least. C.C.'s bond with LeLouch is a proper one, because of the pain she felt as a witch in the past. And the final battles in Code Geass are stunningly beautiful and epic. Even though the animators tend to repeat the same animation, the drama plays out marvelously. "Code Geass" is a guilty pleasure anime, fulfilling every anime fans' desire for the destruction of a country symbolizing Western European culture.

"Code Geass" is probably one of the most emotional breathtaking series, throwing violent and romance together in some hodgepodge mix that is surprisingly incredible. It shouldn't work this well, but the voice actors pull off stunning performances and the visuals are amazing. Any anime fan should look into watching this series as an alternative to Fullmetal Alchemist.

This is only season one. Be sure to catch Code Geass: R2 (season two) on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block at 2 a.m., starting on November 8.

Image courtesy of bandai-ent.com

DVD Review: Geass faces inevitable tragedy

2009-08-30T23:55:00.000-07:00

I never thought "Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion" could beat out other mech series in drama. Up until the end of part one, we had no doubt that Lelouche Lamperouge was an ambitious genius hell-bent on annihilating the Brittanican army.

But with part two of season one, "Code Geass" turns into an epic of heartbreaking tragedy.

In fact, I can't even mention what happens in the first disc, because it's that shocking and devastating. Let's just say that something horrible happens to Milly Ashford and Lelouch is left with a huge amount of guilt.

Despite all the tearjerking drama in the series, Lelouch is very compassionate. Although he still cannot fight in a Nightmare robot for the life of him, he has quite a few caring lady friends who help him out in this volume. The green-haired C.C. is the most loyal of them all, helping him in numerous ways.

For example, in episode 10, C.C. uses her body to shock a robot with the pilot's old heartbreaking memories, so that Lelouch can escape. Lelouch refuses to let her stand in one place, especially when Brittania Nightmares are headed their way. But when Lelouch puts his hand on her shoulders, he sees visions of C.C.'s own forlorn life, in which she was tortured in numerous ways. And for the first time, we witness romantic feelings between C.C. and Lelouch.

Anime fans will love this section of the series, revealing more emotional parts of the lives of Lelouch, C.C. and Milly. Somebody was bound to get their feelings hurt in this anime. We're also left wondering who C.C. really is.

Probably the real kicker in part two, however, is Lelouch's new rival, Mao. He has a Geass power that enables him to read the minds of other people. As one may imagine, the mind games between the two lead to some insane battles, and even a ridiculous episode where Mao returns in bandages.

Sure, it's hard to take "Code Geass" too seriously. After watching three episodes with Mao wielding extremely dangerous weapons, I couldn't help but laugh at all the crazy nonsensical violence. However, the drama in the series is very smartly played. And although most of the real emotional intensity comes from the shocking revelations in the series, the Japanese voice actors never overdo their parts.

So far, "Code Geass" is one of the best anime series this year. It's no surprise that "Anime Insider" named it the best of 2008. The emotional voice acting and complex plotline make it unforgettable.

Image courtesy of bandai-ent.com

Film Review - Ponyo is one of Miyazaki's best

2009-08-16T20:13:00.000-07:00

"Ponyo" is by far the best anime film of 2009, with incredibly creative hand-drawn animation and visuals.

The latest anime film from Hayao Miyazaki focuses on a little goldfish with a human face, named Ponyo. It begins with Ponyo sneaking her way through a submarine window. A boy named Sosuke finds the little fish and decides to keep it as a pet.

Sosuke has no idea that Ponyo is more than just an ordinary goldfish. She has a human face, and she even speaks Sosuke's named aloud. Ponyo is the daughter of an underwater magician named Fujimoto, who says that the natural order of the ocean will become out of balance if Ponyo lives in the human world.

The film gradually grows more wildly creative. Miyazaki's use of hand-drawn animation is perfect for the character of Ponyo, whose actual body undertakes some magnificent metamorphosis from a simple red goldfish.

The true spotlight of the film is on director Hayao Miyazaki's visuals. Miyazaki has always been known for creating a wonderful variety of characters, from the chaotic demons in "Princess Mononoke" to the cute creatures of "My Neighbor Totoro." However, Ponyo may trump them all as being the cutest, but possibly the most powerful of all the characters. Ponyo has the ability to shift the oceans and cause floods and tsunamis.

In fact, her loving relationship with Sosuke is the only thing that keeps her powers in check. Although the romance between the two is kept to a minimum, Ponyo's voice is adorably cute. To the very end of the film, the beauty of "Ponyo" lies in the power of love to withhold the Earth's obliteration.

Director Miyazaki has created another masterpiece which ranks among his best. His palette of colors is filled with beautiful blues, greens and purples. His drawings are pushed to the limit, with smoothly animated creatures and humans. He even squeezed in a lovable song at the end all about Ponyo.

The English voice actors also hold the film together marvelously. There are a few lines that don't translate too well, some of which involve an innocent conversation about a mother's milk in the second half of the film. But for most of the film, the voice actors' lines don't sound awkward at all. Even Frankie Jonas is believable as the simple boy, Sosuke.

Hands down, "Ponyo" is one of Miyazaki's best films ever made. Don't be surprised if "Ponyo" wins an Academy Award for best animated film.

Images courtesy of wdsfilmpr.com

Looking back: Blood+

2009-08-15T21:31:00.000-07:00

I'm getting pissed at Sony's strategy for selling "Blood+". Sony's release of part one of the series is premature. Their box set, priced at a whopping $90-$100, is $40 more expensive than all four of the single DVDs.

That, and that "Blood: The Last Vampire" movie looked disappointing.

With all that said though, part two of the series is (finally) coming out in October 2009. The big question is whether people will actually buy it, knowing that the big box is a complete rip-off.

Despite all these problems, and the terrible scheduling of the TV broadcast, I'm looking forward to watching the end of "Blood+". It was the big series that quenched my thirst for bloody, but beautiful action anime. And Saya is still the coolest female vampire hunter in anime history.

Look forward to seeing a review of part two of "Code Geass." The series is reaching its dramatic peak. Sorry if I couldn't finish a review sooner--I had to wait a long time for the DVDs to arrive, due to high demand for the series.

DVD Review: The Claymore Battle Royale

2009-08-06T06:31:00.000-07:00

From the first volume, "Claymore" hit the ground running with intense monster battles. Volume two heats up with flashy superhuman Dragonball Z-style sword battles.

Episode 6 opens with Claire actually speaking out her heart to Teresa, pleading to stay with her. There's even a scene where Claire strips off her clothes to show that Teresa means everything as her only mother. It's a saddening sight to watch Teresa leave Claire for her Claymore duties. However, when a band of thieves burns the town down, Teresa has no choice but to kill them.

A Claymore isn't allowed to kill humans, though. However, Teresa refuses to die this easily, slaying the Claymores who planned to execute her. But her Claymore buddies don't plan on letting her leave. The organization sends four of the top-ranked Claymores to fight her, leading to some ferocious, incredibly fast battles.

It's an understatement to say that "Claymore" is one of the craziest action anime series ever made. Each of the Claymores has a unique special power, and some of the Claymore powers are visual astounding. For example, Irene's quick sword technique cuts so quickly that no one can even see her arms. She can move her arms faster than the speed of light. This leads to an amazing sequence in which Teresa arm is speedily blocking Irene's sword slashes at the speed of a Dragonball Z fight.

The fight turns to a fatal end in episode 8, with one of the Claymores, Priscilla, growing amazingly powerful as she slowly uses more and more of her Yoma powers. Many Claymores die in this volume, leaving the remaining survivor devastated. This tearjerking episode will tear viewers' hearts out with emotion.

Volume two sets the tone for Claymore as a godlike superhuman action anime. Although it is limited in its rather formulaic Dragonball Z-style plot, the true draw of the series is the visuals. The dark colors and fierce fighting make for one of the most sinister, violent anime ever seen. However, this is a wonderful anime for its expression of raw female power.

To say the least, the battles are stunning. There's nothing more astounding than watching Claymore jump to incredible heights, swinging their swords in a rapid-fire machine gun fashion and healing their wounds extremely quickly. Like any typical action series, it tends to rely too much on the same formulaic tearjerking action sequence, with one character dying off and another seeking revenge.

However, this series is even more earth-shattering for its horrific displays of violence, with characters getting their limbs and their heads chopped off. This series is definitely not for kids--the violence is very intense. However, it's a beautiful series which shows the power of women, even when one of them is getting attacked by disturbing tentacle monsters in episode 10.

Although I had my misgivings for the series when it began, "Claymore" is a definite keeper for anime fans. However, be prepared to get shocked with this second DVD.

Image courtesy of amazon.com and their wallpaper downloads.

Moving at the speed of...a turtle

2009-08-06T06:20:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the delay in posting reviews. I had to cut out lots of time this week studying for a crucial midterm in my Roman History class. Things are looking up. I will soon be a CSULB alum, if I keep performing well on my tests.

Anyhow, look forward to reading a review of "Claymore" in the near future. Unfortunately, Bamboo Dong's Shelf Life blog stated that "Claymore" ends abruptly, with very little thought in the storyline. This is just too bad, because the series looks absolutely incredible.

Peace out. And, uh, keep the peace.

DVD Review: Killing people while eating potato chips

2009-07-16T05:42:00.000-07:00

I've held back on reviewing "Deathnote" for about a year, because all the characters look so stereotypically emo. L looks especially goth and emo, and I really hate the entire goth community for being so emotionally pissed off.

Now then, where was I? Oh yes, the review.

Anyhow, "Deathnote" is an excellent shonen anime, with a gripping plot about a boy who can kill people by writing their name in a notebook. This review covers volumes 1-3.

This boy, Light Yagami, was a goody two-shoes law student, until a shinigami spirit drops a "Deathnote" book. If anyone writes a person's name in the book, the person with that name will die of a heart attack.

Light thinks this is a joke at first, but he soon discovers the ruthless power of the book. He starts killing prisoners left and right, hell bent on removing all the evil people from the Earth to create an ideal world. Light pronounces himself to the world as a god, simply known as Kira.

Fortunately, the Tokyo police have implemented every effort they could to defeat Kira. They hire L, the most famous detective in the world, who has never lost a case. L is so elusive that hardly anyone knows his real name. Thus, Light and L engage in a battle of wits, each hoping to outsmart the other to reveal his true identity.

This is one of the more violent anime series. Just from what I've seen in the first three volumes. Numerous people die of heart attacks or gunshots in the series. Although there isn't anything that resembles the grotesque gore in "Fullmetal Alchemist," this series features so much killing that one has to wonder whether Light has even a shred of humanity in him.

Thankfully, the series isn't completely composed of gloom and doom. Light has an especially humorous photo-opportunity moments, in which he epicly pronounces in the middle of one of his killing sprees that he's going to take a potato chip and eat it. And for some reason, Light's shinigami friend Ryuk, who gave him the Death Note, spends most of his time eating up apples. L and Light even engage in a tennis match, in which each characters is plotting their next move while they are playing their game.

While the series gets really overdramatic and over-the-top, "Death Note" is intriguing for the deep mind games which the heroes and villains play against each other. For example, L spends plenty of time predicting how Light will react, so that he can calculate the odds that Light really is the mysterious Kira. L even uses Light's deducing skills to his advantage, so that he can brainstorm what to do next.

And even if the characters yakkity-yak a little too long while standing still, they are very smart at predicting each other's next move.

Although "Death Note" is an overdramatic action anime, the characters still manage to pull off brilliant voice acting. Shonen anime fans may want to pick up "Death Note" just to see how cerebral the series gets.

Images courtesy of randomc.animeblogger.net

The most depressingly beautiful airplane anime

2009-07-11T12:19:00.000-07:00

Director Mamoru Oshii has pushed the envelope once again with his newest film, "The Sky Crawlers."

The movie is a complex, but stunning film about teenagers trapped in a world of aerial combat.

The movie opens up at a snail's pace, with isolated, depressed male pilots known as Kildren, with no other amusement other than eating at the meat pie diner and having sex in the mansion with other women.

In their planes, they fight enemy planes from a country known only as the Loutan. However, most of their existence is a boring world, in which they never grow old. All they know is that they are children, who could never possibly gain access into the adult world. The only threat to their existence is the unknown airplane above the clouds, known only as “The Teacher.”

Perhaps it’s a somewhat excessive visual representation of the life of Japanese otaku, young men who trap themselves in their home, fearful of the criticism from the adults in the faceless corporate world. The characters have the most depressing and nonchalant dialogue ever heard in an anime. However, director Mamoru Oshii makes it all work.

The film is a deadpan “Catch-22”-styled story, in which the main character, Yuichi, is trying to figure out exactly who he is. He's only heard rumors that his love interest, Suito Kusanagi, shot her previous boyfriend in the head. Although Yuichi has hardly any memory of his past, he offers his girlfriend a new hope for change in their depressing life as Kildren.

Admittedly, the aerial dogfight in the end of the film is an impossibly excessive and violent end. However, given that the concept of the film is out of this world in the first place, it all works beautifully. Although some anime fans might find the film boring at first, “The Sky Crawlers” has plenty of earth-shaking emotional sequences, in which Kusanagi desperately plays with a gun in her hand on a particularly depressing night out.

This is one of the best anime films I have ever seen, filled with some spectacular dogfights with surreal imagery. But although there is plenty of action, the dogfights pale in comparison to the heartbreaking emotions throughout the film. While American audiences may be easily turned off, this is a true masterpiece by Mamoru Oshii.

Image courtesy of larcho.files.wordpress.com

Advertising time

2009-07-11T01:23:00.000-07:00

I've held back on this newest change to my anime blog for a long time, but now that I graduated, I could use some money. Thus, I added advertising to my blog.

I was afraid that the ads would dominate my page, but thankfully blogspot has been friendly enough to post only reasonably-sized ads.

Anyhow, as the Violent Femmes once sang, you gotta "ad" it up. Get it? Ad?

Oh, that's such a bad pun...

DVD Review: Lucky Star Comes to an End

2009-06-27T01:34:00.000-07:00

After the disappointing fifth volume in "Lucky Star," I really hoped for a good wrap-up for this series. After all, "Lucky Star" is one of the most educational series about Japan for Americans.

And thankfully, "Lucky Star" wraps up with far more exciting end-of-high school activities in episodes 21-23 and a stylish cheerleading routine in episode 24.

Considering that "Lucky Star" was more of a mix-up of jokes compared to Azumanga Daioh, volume six is much more neatly organized from episode 21 to 24. There's still the same mixed bag of anime jokes with some dramatic side stories, but each episode has a unique theme to it in volume six.

In episode 21, Kuroi-sensei announces that her senior class will be taking a field trip to Kyoto. The episode opens with a fascinating look at the Buddhist temples. In the middle of the trip, Kagami receives a letter from a boy to meet at a bus stop in the middle of the night. It's an emotional, but surprisingly realistic side story for the series. And thankfully, Konata makes sure to cheer up Kagami from her melancholy mood.

However, the series also features a touching spiritual reunion with Konata's mother. Or rather, the ghost of Konata's mother. Konata (with an "o") actually spends some special time talking with her father about her mother, who died a few years after Konata was born. And then the ghost of Konata's mother appears in the room. Even though Konata cannot see her, this is a very heartwarming episode where her mother checks up on how her daughter is doing.

Some of the best jokes of "Lucky Star" take place in episode 23. Konata, the most observant high schooler, actually catches on to the secrets of her little cousin's friends. It's a little too embarassing for the cute cousin, Yutaka, to read the explicit manga drawn by her friends, or to hear from Konata that Minami secretly hopes to grow bigger breasts. But thankfully, Yutaka doesn't seem to mind, and they actually become far better friends thanks to Konata.

The humorous "Lucky Channel" segment of the series also takes a dark turn when Minoru Shiraishi arrives on the set with his body scratched up and his clothes tattered. Turns out he was getting water from Mount Fuji for the selfish host Akira Kogami. From then on, Minoru Shiraishi yells that he's so tired of working with Akira, picks a violent fight with her and rips apart the "Lucky Channel" set in his rage.

Now that's edgy stuff that we will never see in the "Animaniacs" show. But it's probably the funniest turn for "Lucky Channel," in which the audience is left wondering whether Minoru and Akira will even have a job when the series is over.

However, probably the best episode is episode 24, also known as the infamous episode with the full cheerleading routine of the "Lucky Star" girls. Sure, it's really just an excuse for cosplay fangirls to perform the same dance routine at anime conventions. But it looks great, and it sounds oh so irresistably nonsensical. And surprisingly, the serious, studious Kagami is really hyped about the cheerleading dance.

It's a tearful but wonderful farewell to one of the best slice-of-life anime series I have ever seen. Certainly it's a little more based on down-to-earth everyday life than most anime, but this is exactly what makes "Lucky Star" so special. It's a simple anime about schoolgirls who love talking about anime and manga, without magical powers or flashy special effects.

It still doesn't beat out the cute everyday humor of "Azumanga Daioh," but volume six of "Lucky Star" is a definite must-buy, with some of the most heartfelt moments of the series.

Image courtesy of kurogane.animeblogger.net

Anime at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

2009-06-21T19:17:00.000-07:00

In case anyone hasn't heard, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is showing off an art exhibition called "ANIME! High Art - Pop Culture."

This is one of the big exhibits to check out in Beverly Hills. It features plenty of the original frames of cel animation from some of the best anime, from Studio Ghibli films to "Sailor Moon" to "Akira" to "Ghost in the Shell." And there's also some saucy erotic anime in a special area closed off with a pink curtain for anyone who loves fan service.

Unfortunately, I can't show very many pictures from the exhibition, because the museum doesn't allow anyone to take them. However, these cel frames are truly a sight to see.

DVD Classics: Packed with Fullmetal Goodness

2009-06-18T11:37:00.000-07:00

One might wonder why I haven't seen all of "Fullmetal Alchemist" yet, since it's the number one anime on almost every fanatic's list. Well, it is long, and I had a really tough time trying to follow the series on television.

But I can safely say that "Fullmetal Alchemist" is one of the best anime series ever made, with adrenaline-packed war and grotesque alchemist conspiracies.

This isn't just any war anime though. This series packs in compelling moments of friendship and heartbreak. To give an example, the first few scenes of "Fullmetal Alchemist" literally show two brothers attempting to reincarnate their only parent, their mother, with alchemy. In the process, Ed's arm and leg gets reduced into a bloody stump. As for Al, his body disappears, leaving a bloody pair of clothes. And their mom now looks just plain gross.

Although this series is not for the faint of heart, there is a heartwarming tale in all this gory madness. The Ed and Al Elric brothers are seeking to gain their bodies back through alchemy, hoping to repent for their sins in defying the laws of alchemy to revive their mother. In particular, they seek to find the Philosopher's Stone to revive themselves.

Throughout their journey, they discover much more dark, confounding truths about the origins of the Philosopher's Stone. They also discover homunculi, dark spiritual figures who are also seeking to manipulate Ed and Al for their own purposes. They also discover the true injustices of genocide, especially the nearly complete eradication of the fiction Middle Eastern country of Ishbal.

And honestly, it's too hard to summarize this entire series in one review. However, this is a crucial series which exemplifies all the worst aspects of war through the escalation of heavy-duty weaponry. With the massive numbers of people sacrificed in this series, it's hard to even find a definite truth to war.

And the female characters really take center stage in offering relief, no matter how difficult the cost. Winry Rockbell and Sheska are some of the most bubbly characters, but they are also the forlorn victims of war. Their friends are caught in violent warfare, and they are some of the only people who can offer shelter for them.

It's a delicate balancing act, with moments of humor, action, heartbreak, tragedy and love. And somehow, this series handles it all masterfully. There's no other series like "Fullmetal Alchemist."

Image courtesy of sake0winter.blogspot.com

DVD Classics: Ghost in the Shell boots up for a 2nd Gig

2009-06-11T10:46:00.000-07:00

"Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex: 2nd Gig" is long overdue for a re-release, but thankfully Bandai has set up an Anime Classics release of the entire box set in September.

GitS: SAC 2nd Gig is the excellent second season of the GitS: SAC, with a compelling political plot on terrorism and the oppression of refugees.

Although GitS: SAC has always been known for complicated dialogue and complex idological conversation, 2nd Gig makes for a far more dramatic season. The new enemy faction in this season, the Individual Eleven, attacks the Japanese embassy in the first episode of 2nd Gig and holds the emissaries there hostage. Although Section 9 returns to save the day, the Prime Minister reinstates them in a haphazard fashion, ordering them to save the hostages in only 15 minutes.

This is a much more violent and intense season, focusing more on the plight of Japanese refugees, impoverished in the aftermath of two more World Wars. The devastation of these military attacks has left some cities of Kyushu nearly devastated.

Out of these attacks, an independent militarist group of terrorists, named the Individual Eleven, have manipulated information networks within the government. They have managed to use Section 9 as a tool for their own purposes, even going so far as to transport illegal weaponry, such as nuclear fuel rods. They've already attempted to assassinate the new Prime Minister. At this rate, terrorism in Japan can only get worse.

Although GitS 2nd Gig almost gets a little too wrapped up in conspiracies and meandering plotlines, the second season is far better than the first. Certainly, we're not used to seeing Section 9 fail in their missions. As saddening and infuriating as it gets, anime fans will deeply sympathize more with this group as they try desperately to do the right thing, while the Individual Eleven finds more and more ways to cover their tracks. Despite what other people might think, there's nothing more beautiful than watching Section 9 fight military battles in an already devastated landscape, with sunken buildings and crumbling freeways. The music is incredibly chaotic, with fantastically dissonant string sections, all arranged by the female superstar composer Yoko Kanno.

Best of all, there's far more momentum in this second season. The first season had more of a fake egotistical coolness in all of Section 9's operations, especially in the stand-alone episodes. However, this season is filled with some of the most creative plotlines and twists. Episode two literally takes place in the mind of a military veteran, who confuses the audience with his own bizarre fantasies of killing his employers. Episode seven and eight are mind-bending episodes of Section 9's attempt to capture Kazundo Gouda, the shrewd head of the Cabinet Intelligence Service who always manages to stay one step ahead of them by dispersing misleading information to cover up his tracks.

Anyone who ever doubted that "Stand Alone Complex" would end up too complicated for its own good will be proved wrong with "GitS SAC: 2nd Gig." This is another must-have series, available in September.

Image courtesy of espvisuals.blogspot.com

Lazy-ing around

2009-05-31T01:23:00.000-07:00

I haven't written a blog entry in a while, because I'm basking in my glorious graduation celebrations. Don't worry--I'm still continuing the anime blog.

Look forward to future reviews of all the classic anime I missed out on. Like "Fullmetal Alchemist," "Ghost in the Shell 2nd Gig" and whatnot. Who knows, maybe I'll actually finish "Bleach" if I'm lucky.

DVD Review: Do you feel lucky...star? (part 5)

2009-05-18T21:43:00.000-07:00

Up until now, I couldn't stop watching "Lucky Star." Sure, the jokes were childish conversations about video games and J-pop culture, but I loved it.

However, volume 5 is one of the more lackluster volumes in the Lucky Star series. The jokes aren't as funny, and the dialogue is almost too cumbersome at times.

There are some humorous moments, though. Episode 17 of this series takes us in the final year activities. All the students have to give their preferred majors after high school, but Konata still wants to become a brigade leader. It's a reference to "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya." Good grief.

I was glad that this episode also featured a dramatic part, in which the smart Kagami gets a little steamed at her older sister for bossing her around. Thankfully, her sister gave her credit for all the work she did, purchasing groceries at the end of the day. Certainly it's not the most dramatic thing I've seen in a series, but it really changes up the typical Lucky Star formula.

While parts of episode 18 are somewhat hit-and-miss, Lucky Star has a ball in episode 19 with making all the Gundam references they can possibly make, blurring and censoring all the names and images of the series. In fact, even Konata and her dad's eyes are covered with a black box, presumably because they look like Gundam robot eyes?

Every once in a while, Lucky Star has some zany, ridiculous computer-generated sequence. In episode 19, Yutaka's manga-writing friend, Hiyori Tamura, goes through an intense slow-motion tripping sequence in the school hallway, twisting onto her back just so she can save her drawing hand. Now THAT'S how an anime company uses computer animation!

However, the most memorable part of this DVD is in episode 19, when Tamura and her friends walk by someone cosplaying as Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist. Tamura can't help but take as many camera photos as she can, and send her photos over the phone. After all, this is THE Edward Elric we're talking about.

However, those are the best parts. Many of the other jokes are not that funny at all, involving cute everyday jokes that just didn't crack up my funny bone. The jokes in episode 20 about mosquito bites were so, so repetitive and boring. Thankfully, Tamura cranked out all the jokes she possibly could in episode 19. She's easily the most exciting character, who loves manga and takes every single effort to fantasize people as her favorite anime characters.

If only all the other characters tried to do this. I wasn't impressed with episode 20 at all. Hopefully something more interesting happens in the final volume, but I'm not betting all my money on it.

Image courtesy of robololi.wordpress.com

DVD Classic: Gekigangar-3! I mean, Nadesico!

2009-05-18T07:50:00.000-07:00

"Martian Successor Nadesico" could be called the Japanese version of "Star Trek," only with more laughs, more energy and cheesy jokes about retro robot anime.

Nadesico is partly a parody of Space Battleship Yamato, which involved the characters fighting in outer space against aliens known as the Gamila. In Nadesico, we have the same theme of people fighting against aliens, known as the Jovian Lizards. However, it's also more about a fictional anime show within this series as well.

Nadesico's plot centers around Akito Tenkawa, a boy who lived on Mars until the Jovian lizards attacked their colonies on Mars. His parents died, and he also lost a friend of his, named Ai.

But somehow, Tenkawa managed to escape. He lives on the Earth as a former robot Aestivalis pilot, but he doesn't want to fight anymore. He wants to be a cook! However, he's such a loser that he cries about his past even when he's cooking. Things change when he runs into Yurika Misumaru, his childhood friend. Apparently Yurika is the new temporary Nadesico captain, and Akito rushes over to help her fight the Jovian lizards.

Sometimes the plot just borders on ridiculous. After the liftoff of the Nadesico, Yurika's father tries to capture the Nadesico back, so that it can fight in the Earth's army. As nonsensical as it sounds, though, Yurika decides to head to Mars anyway, for the sake of her friend, Akito.

Yurika hardly even remembers Akito anyway--her only memory is her picture frame of him in a bulky suitcase. But anime fans can't help but love how bubbly Yurika is, even when she's totally clueless.

But Yurika is one of the most lovable anime heroines. Even though Akito doesn't want to be around her, he falls in love. Inevitably, it turns into a big romantic comedy. Yurika gets into some heated competition over Akito with Megumi Reinard, a former voice actress and communications officer. Yurika and Megumi has some laugh-out-loud momentts arguing in front of Akito in his robot, while Akito just watches their breasts in front of him.

There's so many different genres in this anime that it almost fails to conclude itself. Thankfully, director Dai Sato holds the series together with a cheesy retro robot series called "Gekigangar-3." Akito watched every episode with his buddy on the Nadesico, Gai Daigoji, before he was killed. Eventually, this silly anime-within-an-anime turns into a universal phenomenon, an anime which all the nations, including the Jovian lizards, love with all of their heart. Even the ship Nadesico holds an entire series screeening of "Gekigangar-3."

It's a very good thing that this series never takes itself too seriously. Even when the scientific time-travel and space travel concepts shot over my head, there were always funny "Gekigangar-3" jokes, as well as plenty of hectic jokes in which multiple characters argue over the love of Akito.

And yes, the ending might not tie together the entire series. Still, this anime is about growing up and respecting everyone's own views of an anime. After all, the Jovian lizards saw "Gekigangar-3" as a tale in which the evil empire always conquers the minorities. However, Akito and Yurika know that what really matters in anime is the passion of the characters, not just simplistic anime endings.

But "Martian Successor Nadesico" is truly a romantic comedy at heart. In fact, the humorous ending in which Akito is chasing after Yurika is probably the funniest use of teleportation ever. There's plenty of random jokes, but this is exactly what makes Nadesico a classic anime.

Image courtesy of wikipedia.org